President lashes out at Beverly Young Nelson who claims Moore sexually assaulted her when she was 16

Donald Trump has given his wholehearted backing to Roy Moore, the Republican Senate candidate in Alabama facing allegations of sexual assault, in a Yuletide-themed rally just over the state line in Florida.



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Speaking before green and red signs saying “Merry Christmas, Make America Great Again”, Trump not only gave an ardent endorsement of Moore but cast doubt on the claims of one of the women who has accused Moore of sexually assaulting her as a teenager.

Trump joined the Moore campaign in attacking the credibility of one accuser, Beverly Young Nelson, who said Friday she added an inscription to a high school yearbook signed by the Alabama Republican. “Did you see what happened today? You know, the yearbook? Did you see that? There was a little mistake made,” said Trump. “She started writing things in the yearbook.” He went on to attack the credibility of her lawyer, Gloria Allred. “Any time you see her you know something’s gone wrong.”

Nelson had used the yearbook as evidence to back her claims that Moore sexually assaulted her when she was a 16-year-old waitress, in 1977.

Trump also criticised Moore’s opponent, Democrat Doug Jones, as a “liberal democrat” and a “total puppet” before closing his pitch by saying “We want jobs, jobs, jobs, so get out and vote for Roy Moore.”

The president has initially been cautious in his embrace of the controversial candidate, who was twice removed from office as Alabama’s chief justice for defying federal courts and has frequently made remarks considered homophobic. Most recently, Moore blamed the allegations against him on a conspiracy that includes “lesbians, gays, bisexuals and socialists”.

However, Trump has supported Moore on Twitter in recent days. He said Friday morning “LAST thing the Make America Great Again Agenda needs is a Liberal Democrat in Senate where we have so little margin for victory already. The Pelosi/Schumer Puppet Jones would vote against us 100% of the time. He’s bad on Crime, Life, Border, Vets, Guns & Military. VOTE ROY MOORE!”

The tweet marked the culmination of an evolution where Trump, who backed Moore’s opponent Luther Strange in the primary, had initially been hesitant to tie himself to the conservative firebrand after the initial allegations against him. However, Trump has recently become more positive about Moore.

Steve Bannon backed Strange too but the former top White House aide has long supported Moore and will appear on his behalf at an election eve rally in South Alabama.

In addition to touting Moore, Trump also hit a variety of familiar themes. He dwelt heavily on his electoral victory as well as repeated attacks on “fake news”. In particular, he singled out a reporting error made by ABC News over the prosecution of Mike Flynn and suggested attendees sue for stock market losses that resulted.

Trump also warned darkly about “very bad, evil people” who were trying to sabotage his effort to “drain the swamp”. He said the system was “corrupt” and “rigged” but insisted they were being stopped.

But the crowd, which cheered particularly for Trump’s statement “we believe that every American should have to stand for the national anthem”, seemed unfazed by the dark forces menacing. They embraced Trump’s belief “our revolution didn’t end on November 8, it’s just beginning”, that America was once again on its road to being great again and his wishes for a merry Christmas. And even if they didn’t, they cheered Trump as he left the stage to artificial snow being blasted down from rafters on to the crowd.