White House says GOP’s Senate nominee must do the right thing but ‘mere allegation’ should not be allowed destroy his life

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

President Donald Trump has called on Roy Moore, the Republican Senate nominee in Alabama, to step aside if the allegations of sexual assault against a minor are true.



Speaking to reporters on Air Force One, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said: “Like most Americans the president believes we cannot allow a mere allegation, in this case one from many years ago, to destroy a person’s life.

“However, the president also believes that if these allegations are true, Judge Moore will do the right thing and step aside.”

In an article published on Thursday, the Washington Post reported that Moore had inappropriate sexual contact with a 14-year-old girl in 1979 when he took her to his house and made her touch his genitals. The Alabama Republican has insisted the report is “fake news and intentional defamation”.

The White House statement came after senior Republicans expressed deep concern about the allegations saying that Moore should leave the race “if true”. Some like Arizona Senator John McCain have said Moore should immediately drop out.

John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) The allegations against Roy Moore are deeply disturbing and disqualifying. He should immediately step aside and allow the people of Alabama to elect a candidate they can be proud of.

The Washington Post’s story involved more than 30 interviews and included an on-the-record interview with Leigh Corfman, Moore’s alleged victim.

She told the Post: “I wasn’t ready for that – I had never put my hand on a man’s penis, much less an erect one.”

Trump himself has been repeatedly accused of sexual misconduct by at least 16 women and the White House has insisted that all of them are lying. The president said in a 2005 tape recorded the set on the television show Access Hollywood that he could grab women “by the pussy” without their consent: “When you’re a star they let you do it.”

The allegations against Moore come just over a month before he faces election in Alabama for the Senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions’s appointment to be attorney general. He bested appointed incumbent Luther Strange in a fiercely contested primary marked by concern over Moore’s long history of controversial comments.

Trump backed Strange in the primary but had been hesitant to do so. After Strange lost, the president deleted supportive tweets about the Alabama Republican and praised Moore.

The former Alabama state supreme court chief justice, who was removed twice for defying court orders, has called for “homosexual conduct” to be criminalized and said 9/11 was God’s revenge on the United States.

Doug Jones, Moore’s Democratic opponent, has simply said: “Roy Moore needs to answer these serious charges.”