Orrin Hatch says Trump had no choice but to endorse Roy Moore

When it comes down to it, the fact that President Trump needs as many Republicans in the Senate as possible outweighs Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore being accused by several women of groping them when they were teens and he was in his early 30s, Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said Monday.

Trump officially endorsed Moore on Monday, a little over a week before the people of Alabama go to the polls to vote for Moore or his Democratic opponent, Doug Jones, a former U.S. attorney who successfully prosecuted two members of the KKK for the killing of four black girls in the 1963 bombing of Birmingham's 16th Street Baptist Church. Hatch said he doesn't think Trump "had any choice but to do that" because "he needs every Republican he can get so he can put his agenda through. So that's the only Republican you can possibly get down there."

Regarding Moore's alleged transgressions, "many of the things he allegedly did are decades ago," Hatch said. "So it's hard to — that's a decision that has to be made by the people in that state. If they make that decision who are we to question them?"

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Hatch, 83, is serving his seventh term, and is still mulling over whether to run for re-election in 2018. His potential successor, Mitt Romney, tweeted Monday: "Roy Moore in the U.S. Senate would be a stain on the GOP and on the nation. Leigh Corfman and other victims are courageous heroes. No vote, no majority is worth losing our honor, our integrity."