Trump sides with Roy Moore, lauds this 'very special time' for women

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

published 21 November 2017

On Tuesday, President Trump told White House reporters that "we do not need a liberal person" to win the open Senate seat in Alabama. "You have to listen to" Roy Moore's denials of the allegations of his sexual misconduct with minors, Trump told reporters, referring to the multiple women who have accused the Republican candidate of inappropriate conduct. Trump said that Moore's Democratic opponent Doug Jones — who convicted two KKK members for bombing a church in Alabama — was "terrible on crime" and "terrible on the border" before adding that allegations against Moore occurred over 40 years ago, "so, you know."

Although the Republican Party has largely distanced itself or withdrawn support entirely from Moore, the White House had been reluctant to give a firm opinion on Moore's candidacy. Last week, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that the president believed "the people of Alabama should make the decision on who their senator should be." On Monday, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway gave a slightly less limp endorsement of Moore, saying on Fox & Friends that Moore's victory would help the Republicans pass tax reform — comments the Moore campaign latched onto as implicit proof of a White House endorsement.

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Kelly O'Meara Morales is a staff writer at The Week. He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and studied Middle Eastern history and nonfiction writing amongst other esoteric subjects. When not compulsively checking Twitter, he writes and records music, subsists on tacos, and watches basketball.

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