Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore complained on Tuesday that he is being “harassed” by the media over sexual misconduct allegations involving teenagers.

Addressing the faithful at a Baptist church revival in south-west Alabama, Moore insisted that the claims are a calculated effort to derail his political career.

“Why do you think they’re giving me this trouble?” he demanded. “Why do you think I’m being harassed in the media and people pushing forth allegations in the last 28 days of this election, the last 30 days it began?

“After 40-something years fighting this battle, I’m now facing allegations, and that’s all the press want to talk about. But I want to talk about the issues. I want to talk about where this country’s going and, if we don’t come back to God, we’re not going anywhere.”

Two women have claimed that Moore molested them in the 1970s, when one was 14 and the other 16 and he was a local district attorney in his 30s. Three others said he pursued romantic relationships with them around the same time. The Republican party formally cut ties with Moore earlier on Tuesday.

Wearing a dark suit, white shirt and red tie with white stripes, Moore spoke for half an hour to a supportive gathering of about 400 people in a gym at the Walker Springs Road Baptist Church in Jackson, Alabama. Staff there said the church had received threatening phone calls but there were no incidents.

Pastor David Webb said “allegations” is exactly what they are. “All I can see is a man who for years has stood for right,” he told the audience. “Thank God for a man who stood for truth.”

Quick Guide Gay bans and praise for Putin: the world according to Roy Moore Show Homosexuality should be illegal In 2005, Moore said: “Homosexual conduct should be illegal.” In an interview televised on C-Span, Moore added: “It is immoral. It is defined by the law as detestable.” During a debate in September 2017, he went out of his way to bemoan the fact that “sodomy [and] sexual perversion sweep the land”. September 11 attacks as divine punishment In a speech in February, Moore appeared to suggest that the terrorist attacks of September 11 were the result of divine retribution against the United States and prophesized in the Book of Isaiah. In comments first reported by CNN, Moore quoted Isaiah 30:12-13, saying: “Because you have despised His word and trust in perverseness and oppression, and say thereon ... therefore this iniquity will be to you as a breach ready to fall, swell out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instance.” Moore then noted: “Sounds a little bit like the Pentagon, whose breaking came suddenly at an instance, doesn’t it?” He added: “If you think that’s coincidence, if you go to verse 25: ‘There should be up on every high mountain and upon every hill, rivers and streams of water in the day of the great slaughter when the towers will fall.’" Praise for Putin In an interview with the Guardian in August, Moore praised Putin for his views on gay rights. “Maybe Putin is right. Maybe he’s more akin to me than I know.” The comments came after Moore suggested the United States could be described as “the focus of evil in the world” because “we promote a lot of bad things”. Moore specifically named gay marriage as one of those “bad things”.

'Reds and yellows’ At a rally earlier in September, Moore talked about “reds and yellows fighting” while discussing racial division in the United States. Moore justified this on Twitter by citing lyrics from the song Jesus Loves the Little Children. He wrote “Red, yellow, black and white they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world. This is the Gospel.” Tracking livestock is communism In 2006, Moore condemned a proposal for a national ID system for animals as “more identifiable with communism than free enterprise”. The proposal received attention after a cow in Alabama had been diagnosed with mad cow disease. Moore, who was then running for governor, was skeptical that the outbreak was real. Instead, Moore suggested it was a ruse intended to promote the tracking system.



A five-minute video was projected on to a back wall, telling Moore’s life story, “from humble beginnings to humble servant”. It referenced his service in the Vietnam war, study of law and a spell as a kickboxer before he married in 1985 and eventually became a circuit court judge.

After being greeted by a standing ovation, Moore, running against Democrat Doug Jones on 12 December, prompted some laughter by remarking: “Obviously I’ve made a few people mad. I’m the only one that can unite Democrats and Republicans because I seem to be opposed by both. They’ve spent over $30m trying to take me out. They’ve done everything they could and now they’re together to try and keep me from going to Washington.”

He sought to put the allegations in the context of a “spiritual battle” in American politics, warning that religion was disappearing from daily life. He described his mission as bringing “the truth about God to our capital” and argued that “without God, we will remain a divided society”.

Referencing Martin Luther King, Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln, he added: “We cannot have a country, we cannot save our country, until we acknowledge the sovereignty of God … We’ve got to go back to an understanding of the relevance of God.”

Moore, twice removed as chief justice of the Alabama supreme court for defying court orders, ended by reciting by heart Lincoln’s Gettysburg address.

Congregants appeared to be squarely behind the controversial candidate, who is seeking to fill the Senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions, now attorney general. William Wright, 49, a former millwright, said: “When I looked into Roy Moore’s eyes, I saw truth.”

The Republican National Committee has pulled out of a joint fundraising agreement with Moore, according to a filing with the Federal Election Commission.

Richard Chestang, 54, a retired construction worker, said of the allegations: “Fake news because of the timing. If they’re going to say these things, why didn’t they come forward 40 years ago? I believe he’s a good Christian man.”

But Moore does appear to be losing another crucial supporter. At the end of his show on Fox News on Tuesday, Sean Hannity criticised Moore and said: “For me, the judge has 24 hours. You must immediately and fully come up with a satisfactory explanation for your inconsistencies … You must remove any doubt. If you can’t do this, then Judge Moore needs to get out of this race.”

The New York Times columnist Frank Bruni told CNN: “When you’ve lost Sean Hannity, it’s pretty close to the end of the road.”