Several Republicans on Thursday urged their party’s candidate for a vacant US Senate seat to quit the race if an explosive report that he had a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old girl is true.
Four women, speaking on the record, told The Washington Post that Roy Moore of Alabama pursued them when they were 18 or younger and he was in his early thirties working as an assistant district attorney, AFP reported.
According to the Post, Leigh Corfman, now 53, said when she was 14 Moore took her into his house in the woods near Gadsden, Alabama, removed her shirt and pants, and fondled her over her bra and underpants.
“I wasn’t ready for that,” Corfman told the Post.
Moore, who is 70, married for three decades, and the father of four, denied any sexual impropriety. His campaign called the Post story “fake news.”
“After over 40 years of public service (by Moore), if any of these allegations were true, they would have been made public long before now,” the Moore campaign said in an email to supporters.
Moore, an anti-establishment conservative and former judge, and Democrat Doug Jones face off in a special senate election December 12 to replace Jeff Sessions, who is now US attorney general.
The stunning accusations by the four women reverberated through Washington.
“If these allegations are true, he must step aside,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said. At least a dozen other Republicans followed suit.
Senator John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, immediately declared the allegations “disqualifying” for Moore.
“He should immediately step aside and allow the people of Alabama to elect a candidate they can be proud of,” McCain said.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters on Friday that US President Donald Trump would expect Moore to withdraw from an upcoming vote if allegations were true.
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,” she said.
“However, the president also believes that if these allegations are true, Judge Moore will do the right thing and step aside.”