Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore got into a back-and-forth Twitter argument with former Massachusetts governor and GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Monday, just as new details surrounding Moore’s alleged sexual misconduct with minors surfaced.
“Roy Moore in the US Senate would be a stain on the GOP and on the nation,” Romney tweeted. “Leigh Corfman and other victims are courageous heroes. No vote, no majority is worth losing our honor, our integrity.”
Corfman and multiple other women have accused Moore of initiating sexual contact with them in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when he was an assistant district attorney in his early 30s.
Corfman told The Washington Post that Moore had sexual contact with her when she was just 14. The age of consent in Alabama is 16.
Moore has labeled the allegations “simply dirty politics.”
Less than an hour after Romney’s tweet, Moore wrote back.
“Either @MittRomney has lost his courage or he doesn’t care about truth anymore,” Moore tweeted. “Sad day! America’s reawakening was led by @realDonaldTrump, not you Mitt. #DefeatTheElite #DrainTheSwamp.”
Earlier Monday, Debbie Wesson Gibson, who claimed she had a relationship with Moore when she was 17 and he was 34 years old, told The Washington Post that she had discovered a card in her attic that Moore gave her for her high school graduation.
President Donald Trump has argued that Moore is a better option in the Senate race than Democrat Doug Jones. “Democrats refusal to give even one vote for massive Tax Cuts is why we need Republican Roy Moore to win in Alabama,” the president said on Twitter. “We need his vote on stopping crime, illegal immigration, Border Wall, Military, Pro Life, V.A., Judges 2nd Amendment and more. No to Jones, a Pelosi/Schumer Puppet!”