In trying to discredit an accuser, Roy Moore and his lawyer apparently got some basic facts wrong

Phillip Jauregui, Roy Moore attorney
(Image credit: Wes Frazer/Getty Images)

In a press conference and open letter to Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday, Alabama Republican Senate nominee Roy Moore and his lawyer Phillip Jauregui tried to poke holes in the account of Beverly Young Nelson, a woman who accused Moore of violently sexually assaulting her in his car when she was 16 and he was in his 30s.

Jauregui suggested that Moore's inscription in Nelson's high school yearbook was forged and argued that Nelson was wrong when she said she "had never seen nor had any contact with Judge Moore. As it turns out, in 1999, Ms. Nelson filed a divorce action against her then-husband, Mr. Harris," Jauregui said. "Guess who that case was before? It was in Etowah County, and the judge assigned was Judge Roy S. Moore, the circuit judge of Etowah County." Ergo, "there was contact," he said.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.