The Great Smoky Mountain Journal

Staff, Wire Reports

Posted: Sunday, January 21, 2018 07:22 PM

Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Says If Allegations True Against Moore He Must End His Campaign

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Alabama Judge Roy Moore must end his U.S. Senate campaign if it's true that he initiated a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old girl.

"If these allegations are true, he must step aside," said McConnell, referring to a new report by the Washington Post detailing the alleged actions by Moore when he was in his 30s.

The report includes allegations from three other women who claim Moore "pursued them when they were between the ages of 16 and 18 and he was in his early 30s."

The Moore campaign denied the allegations, calling the report "garbage" and the "very definition of fake news and intentional defamation."

"After over 40 years of public service, if any of these allegations were true, they would have been made public long before now," the campaign statement read.

McConnell's sentiments were echoed by other Republicans, including Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby and Arizona Senators Jeff Flake and John McCain.

Jeff Flake ✔@JeffFlake
If there is any shred of truth to the allegations against Roy Moore, he should step aside immediately.

McCain said in a statement, "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."

Sen. Susan Collins ✔@SenatorCollins
If there is any truth at all to these horrific allegations, Roy Moore should immediately step aside as a Senate candidate.

Moore won the GOP primary in September to fill the Senate seat previously held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. He'll face Democrat Doug Jones in a Dec. 12 special election.

The first accuser, Leigh Corfman, said she met Moore at a courthouse in 1979, when he was a assistant district attorney, and he befriended her. She said he asked for her phone number and picked her up near her house days later.

Corfman alleges Moore drove her to his home and kissed her.

The Post report states:

On a second visit, she says, he took off her shirt and pants and removed his clothes. He touched her over her bra and underpants, she says, and guided her hand to touch him over his underwear.

“I wanted it over with — I wanted out,” she remembers thinking. “Please just get this over with. Whatever this is, just get it over.” Corfman says she asked Moore to take her home, and he did.