Alabama state auditor uses the Bible to defend Roy Moore against misconduct allegations

Even if the allegations of sexual misconduct made against Roy Moore are true, it's no big deal that he was a 32-year-old man initiating an inappropriate relationship with a 14-year-old girl, because the Bible is filled with stories of older men with younger women, Alabama State Auditor Jim Ziegler told The Washington Examiner Thursday.

"Take the Bible, Zachariah and Elizabeth for instance," Ziegler said. "Zachariah was extremely old to marry Elizabeth and they became the parents of John the Baptist. Also take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus. There's just nothing immoral or illegal here. Maybe just a little bit unusual."

That's not Ziegler's only defense of Moore, the Republican candidate for Senate in Alabama. He also told the Examiner it's "much ado about nothing" because the incidents would have happened "almost 40 years ago" and it's possible "Roy Moore fell in love with one of the younger women." Besides, Ziegler added, it's a pattern of Moore's to find himself in the company of younger women — he's been married to his wife, Kayla, for 35 years, and she's 14 years his junior. The real villain here is the press, Ziegler said, specifically The Washington Post, for breaking the story on Thursday. The paper was "desperately trying to get something negative" on Moore, Ziegler told the Examiner, but "he's clean as a hound's tooth."

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