Politically-energized viewers anxiously expected a resolution to Sean Hannity’s Tuesday night gauntlet-dropping demands for Judge Roy Moore to answer unresolved questions regarding allegations of events that happened nearly 40 years ago.

The Fox News host did not miss the opportunity to produce a content-dense program that canvassed everything from the Clinton Uranium One scandal to recent impeachment charges against President Trump, finishing with the widely underreported trial of US Senator Menendez, which includes underage sex allegations.

Hannity broadly examined the media’s decades-long selective moral outrage with respect to sexual abuse. When a Democrat is accused of this, Republicans eagerly pile onto the controversy.

In the case of Bill Clinton, charges led to impeachment. The converse is true of Democrats regarding Republicans, but in so many cases, charges are quickly ignored or forgotten by the media – unfairly to the victims.

Hannity peppered his show with commentary from Monica Crowley, Gregg Jarrett, Joe Concha, and Geraldo Rivera before getting to the meat of the matter, Judge Moore’s open letter response to Hannity’s question from Tuesday night’s show. It’s telling that the leading senate candidate from the state of Alabama would deem to reply to a media commentator with an open letter – such is the substance of Hannity’s following. Understanding the gravity, Hannity read Judge Moore’s open letter in full:

I am suffering the same treatment other Republicans have had to endure. A month prior to the general election for U.S. Senate in Alabama, I have been attacked by the Washington Post and other liberal media in a desperate attempt to smear my character and defeat my campaign. Over the last 40 years I have held several public offices, including Deputy District Attorney, Circuit Judge, and Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. In addition to running five statewide and three county campaigns for public office, I have been involved in two major controversies that attracted national attention, one about the Ten Commandments and the other the sanctity of marriage. The Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission, Court of the Judiciary, and Attorney General have investigated, scrutinized, examined, and vetted me, not to mention every opposing candidate against whom I have run. I have been married for almost 33 years to my wife Kayla. We have four children and five granddaughters. We are in the process of investigating these false allegations to determine their origin and motivation. For instance, we have documented that the most recent accuser, Beverly Nelson, was a party in a divorce action before me in Etowah County Circuit court in 1999. No motion was made for me to recuse. In her accusations, Nelson did not mention that I was the judge assigned to her divorce case in 1999, a matter that apparently caused her no distress at a time that was 18 years closer to the alleged assault. Yet 18 years later, while talking before cameras about the supposed assault, she seemingly could not contain her emotions. My signature on the order of dismissal in the divorce case was annotated with the letters “D.A.,” representing the initials of my court assistant. Curiously the supposed yearbook inscription is also followed by the same initials – “D.A.” But at the time I was Deputy District Attorney, not District Attorney. Those initials as well as the date under the signature block and the printed name of the restaurant are written in a style inconsistent with the rest of the yearbook inscription. The “7’s” in “Christmas 1977” are in a noticeably different script than the “7’s” in the date “12-22-77.” I believe tampering has occurred. Are we at a stage in American politics in which false allegations can overcome a public record of 40 years, stampede the media and politicians to condemn an innocent man, and potentially impact the outcome of an election of national importance? When allegations of events occurring 40 years ago – and never before mentioned during a 40-year career of public service – are brought out and taken seriously only 30 days before a critical election, we may be in trouble as a country. I adamantly deny the allegations of Leigh Corfman and Beverly Nelson, did not date underage girls, and have taken steps to begin a civil action for defamation. Because of that, at the direction of counsel, I cannot comment further. -Roy S. Moore.

Hannitys’ expert panel reached a consensus. It’s most important to take accusers seriously, but the rights of the accused should also be valued, particularly in a court of public opinion that is quick to judge.

Jarrett offered that should more time be needed to reach a decision, the attorney general of Alabama has a right to set the election date back if necessary. Would that provide the people of Alabama the time needed to make a decision or simply deprive the citizens of Alabama from duly elected representation in important matters being voted upon in the United States Senate?

No easy answers came, and none were expected as Hannity acknowledged that there shouldn’t be a rush to judgement.

Still, Hannity stood his ground. He asked the hard questions and steered clear of becoming the story – that is what’s expected of serious journalists who don’t take sides. In the end, the Alabama voters must decide.

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