Before taking off for his Thanksgiving at Mar-a-Lago, President Trump took some questions from the press and finally responded to the multiple sexual abuse allegations against Roy Moore. “We do not need a liberal person — a Democrat” in that seat, Trump said. “He totally denies it. He says it didn’t happen. You have to listen to him also.”

When asked if he had a message for women, Trump said it’s “very, very good” for women that these kind of allegations have been “exposed.” But he insisted Moore “totally denies it,” pontificating on the fact that 40 years had passed, implying he doubted the claims the multiple women have made.

This is a significant shift from the White House’s messaging on Moore as of just a day ago. At Monday’s press briefing, Sarah Huckabee Sanders repeatedly stated that Trump wanted to leave it up to the people of Alabama to decide, repeating a line Director of Legislative Affairs Marc Short had used in an interview on Sunday.


Sanders also distanced the White House from Trump’s own senior counselor, Kellyanne Conway, who said Monday morning, “I’m telling you that we want the votes in the Senate to get this tax bill through.”