PENSACOLA, Florida — Friday at an event at the Pensacola Bay Center on a chilly night in the Florida Panhandle, President Donald Trump addressed the elephant in the room and urged rallygoers from Alabama to vote for Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Roy Moore.

Moore is in a tight race with Democrat Doug Jones for the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and received a public boost from the president.

“We cannot afford — this country, the future of this country — cannot afford to lose a seat in the very, very close United States Senate,” he said. “We can’t afford it, folks. We can’t afford to have a liberal Democrat who is completely controlled by Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer. His name is Jones, and he’s their puppet.”

“We need somebody in that Senate seat who will vote for our ‘Make America Great Again’ agenda, which involves tough on crime, tough on borders … building the wall, strengthening our military, continuing our great fight for our veterans,” he added. “We want jobs, jobs, jobs, so get out and vote for Roy Moore.”

Trump’s appearance, which was just a dozen miles from the Alabama-Florida state line, included some shots at Gloria Allred, the attorney for one of Moore’s accusers that alleged the Alabama Republican engaged in sexual misconduct decades ago.

“So did you see what happened today, you know, the yearbook?” he said. “Did you see that? There was a little mistake made. She started writing things in the yearbook. Ah, what are we gonna do — Gloria Allred, anytime you see her, you know something’s going wrong.”

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