INSIDE • Roy Moore denies sexual misconduct in radio interview,
Associated Press
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — His party suddenly and bitingly divided, Alabama Republican Roy Moore emphatically rejected increasing pressure to abandon his Senate bid Friday as fears grew among GOP leaders that a once-safe Senate seat was in jeopardy just a month before a special election.
Mr. Moore, an outspoken Christian conservative and former state Supreme Court judge, attacked a Washington Post report that he had sexual contact with a 14-year-old girl and pursued three other teenagers decades earlier as “completely false and misleading.”
In an interview with conservative radio host Sean Hannity, he did not wholly rule out dating teenage girls when he was in his early 30s.
Asked if that would have been usual for him, Mr. Moore said, “Not generally, no.” He added: “I don’t remember ever dating any girl without the permission of her mother.” As for the encounter with 14-year-old Leigh Corfman, as described by Ms. Corfman in Thursday’s Post article, he said, “It never happened.”
The story has produced a wave of concern among anxious GOP officials in Washington but little more than a collective shrug from many Republicans in Alabama, which will hold a special election Dec. 12 to fill the seat previously held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Paul Reynolds, Alabama’s Republican National Committeeman, called it “a firestorm designed to shipwreck a campaign in Alabama. I think it’s sinister.”
Despite such support, experienced Republican operatives believe the Alabama Senate seat, held by the GOP for the last 20 years, is now at risk.
In the immediate aftermath of the Post report Thursday, a wave of national Republican leaders called for Mr. Moore to drop out of the race if the allegations are true. They included the White House, the head of the House Freedom Caucus Mark Meadows, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
It got worse Friday. The Senate GOP’s campaign arm formally ended its fundraising agreement with Mr. Moore.