Not only did GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore deny accusations of sexual misconduct on Thursday, the former Alabama judge also doubled down by sending out an email to supporters asking for campaign donations.
“The Obama-Clinton Machine’s liberal media lapdogs just launched the most vicious and nasty round of attacks against me I’ve EVER faced,” Moore, who defeated Sen. Luther Strange in Alabama’s Republican primary in September, wrote in the email.
Four women have accused Moore of sexual misconduct in on-the-record interviews, including a woman who was 14 in 1979. Moore “asked them on dates when they were between 16 and 18 and he was in his early 30s,” according to an article Thursday in The Washington Post.
“I believe you and I have a duty to stand up and fight back against the forces of evil waging an all-out war on our conservative values,” Moore’s fundraising email, with the subject line “we are in a spiritual battle,” read. “So will you take a stand by chipping in a donation to let me know you’ve got my back in our all-out war against the Obama-Clinton Machine?”
Moore denied the allegations in a written statement to the Post.
“These allegations are completely false and are a desperate political attack by the National Democrat Party and the Washington Post on this campaign,” the statement read.
A number of GOP officials in Alabama stood by Moore despite the accusations. Republican senators in Congress, on the other hand, hedged their statements by saying Moore should step down if the allegations are true.
“If these allegations are true, Roy Moore should step aside for all the obvious reasons,“ Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said in a statement. “These are very disturbing allegations.”
The Senate special election in Alabama is Dec. 12.