Mike Huckabee stands by Josh Duggar, reality star accused of molesting underage girls

(Image credit: Matt Sullivan/Getty Images)

published 22 May 2015

Most prominent Republicans are wisely keeping mum about the controversy surrounding Josh Duggar, the conservative reality television star who on Thursday acknowledged reports that he had confessed to sexually molesting five underage girls when he himself was a teenager. But not presidential aspirant Mike Huckabee, who has come out with a forceful statement expressing his support for Duggar, saying, "No purpose whatsoever is served by those who are now trying to discredit Josh or his family by sensationalizing the story."

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While Duggar is best known to the public as one of the stars of TLC's reality show 19 Kids and Counting (a reference to Duggar's very large Evangelical family), he is deeply embroiled in conservative politics. Once the scandal broke, Duggar stepped down from his post as the head of the political arm of the Family Research Council, the influential conservative group that has long campaigned against abortion and gay marriage.