Since the first allegations of sexual misconduct with teenage girls came out against Alabama GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore came out, President Donald Trump has been largely silent on the matter. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders has repeatedly said that the president finds the accusations “troubling,” she has deflected when pressed by reporters on whether Trump supports Moore. Meanwhile, Trump himself has ignored reporters’ questions on Moore when the press has pushed him in public.

That is until today. While speaking to the press outside the White House this afternoon, Trump seemed to openly endorse Moore, stating that “we don’t need a liberal Democrat in that seat.” He then went on to trash Democratic nominee Doug Jones as being soft on crime, immigration and the Second Amendment.

Also, the president left the door open that he may travel down to Alabama and campaign for Moore before next months election.

When grilled on whether he believes the allegations against Moore, the president said that Moore “totally denies” the allegations and that “40 years is a long time.” The president further noted that Moore had run a number of races in the past and this has “never come up.”

As far as the women who have come forward, POTUS said that “the women are Trump voters — most of them are Trump voters — all you can do is you have to do what you have to do.” He added that he was very happy that women are now coming forward with allegations, which seems to fly in the face of both his embrace of Moore’s denials and his own past history of calling all women that have accused him of sexual harassment and assault “liars.”

The president publicly offering support for Moore comes a day after White House counselor Kellyanne Conway indicated that the administration wanted a Republican to win the Senate race so they could pass tax reform.

Watch the clip above, via Fox News.

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Justin Baragona on Twitter: @justinbaragona

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