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Roy Moore: Alabama voters will ‘see through this charade’ of sexual misconduct claim

November 12, 2017 by  
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Alabama GOP U.S. Senate nominee and suspended chief justice Roy Moore delivers remarks to the Mid-Alabama Republican Club. This is the first time Moore has spoken publicly since allegations of sexual misconduct with an underage girl. (Cameron Carnes/For The Washington Post)

Senate candidate Roy Moore tried to rally support behind his embattled campaign Saturday as some prominent Republicans disowned him over allegations that he pursued sexual or romantic relationships with teenage girls when he was in his 30s.

In his first public appearance since The Washington Post reported the allegations, Moore called the claims “a desperate attempt to stop my campaign” and cast doubt on the intentions of his accusers, one of whom said she was 14 when the former Alabama judge initiated a sexual encounter.

“These allegations came only four-and-a-half weeks before the election,” Moore told about 100 supporters at a Veterans Day breakfast here.

“That’s not a coincidence. It’s an intentional act to stop a campaign. . . . We do not intend to let the Democrats or the establishment Republicans or anybody else behind this story stop this campaign,” he said.

Moore’s effort to frame the allegations as a political conspiracy perpetrated by the media and his political enemies came as national Republicans withdrew financial support for his campaign and called for him to bow out before the Dec. 12 special election.

Republican voters at the event in Alabama were defiant in their support for Moore.

“From what I’ve read, it seems like this 14-year-old girl who is now 50-something has a somewhat checkered past,” Johnny Creel, 56, an insurance broker wearing a “Make America Great Again” hat, said outside the event.

“You have to judge a story like that on the credibility of the accuser. . . . I don’t think it happened.”

Willie A. Casey, one of the few African Americans at the event, said the story is the “hottest thing going in Birmingham,” especially in the black community. But he said the allegations have not changed his position.

“I believe in [Moore’s] biblical principles,” said Casey, 70, comparing the United States to “Sodom and Gomorrah.” “I think in America, we’ve gone so far out of the Bible, someone needs to bring it back.”

Leigh Corfman, who described a sexual encounter with Moore when she was 14, told The Post she thought about confronting Moore for years but feared her personal history — three divorces and a messy financial background — could hurt her credibility. She also worried how it would affect her children, she said.

Moore, who won his Senate nomination while touting his belief in the supremacy of a Christian God over the Constitution, said he expects “the citizens of Alabama to see through this charade.”

The 70-year-old is running against Democrat Doug Jones to fill the seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, but the claims have raised questions about his viability in the race and how the Republican Party should respond.

President Trump, who has been on a 12-day tour of Asia, told reporters Saturday aboard Air Force One that he hasn’t “been able to devote very much time” to follow the report about Moore.

“Honestly, I’d have to look at it and I’d have to see. Because, again, I’m dealing with the president of China, the president of Russia, I’m dealing with the folks over here,” he said when asked to comment on the accusations.

On Friday, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders echoed the positions of Vice President Pence and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that “if the allegations are true, Judge Moore will do the right thing and step aside.”

Conservative Sens. Mike Lee (Utah) and Steve Daines (Mont.) have rescinded their endorsements of Moore. They were joined Saturday by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who wrote on Twitter, “Based on the allegations against Roy Moore, his response and what is known, I withdraw support.”

And on Saturday, two more Republicans, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Sen. Bob Corker (Tenn.), disparaged him.

Some Republicans have hoped that Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) would postpone the election, but her staff told local media outlets Saturday that the election will go on as scheduled next month.

“These allegations are deeply disturbing,” Ivey said in a statement. “I will hold judgment until we know the facts. The people of Alabama deserve to know the truth and will make their own decisions.”

Ivey, who does not endorse candidates, indicated Wednesday that she would vote for Moore. An inquiry about her current position was not immediately returned.

Under state law, Moore’s name cannot be removed from the ballot this close to the election, but the state GOP can petition to disqualify him and he can still withdraw from the race. If Moore is disqualified or withdraws, votes for him would not be counted.

Republicans such as Sen. Luther Strange (R) and Rep. Mo Brooks (R) — who both ran against Moore in the primary — could also mount their own write-in campaigns. But given the apparent strength of Moore’s base, national Republicans are skeptical that a write-in candidate could win.

Some Republican women who attended the event Saturday said further allegations against Moore could change their feelings about him. But as a whole, they continue to back “the judge,” they said.

Ann Eubank, who leads a conservative group called Alabama Legislative Watchdogs, said The Post was part of a political conspiracy against Moore.

“Y’all chose the month before to bring a hit piece thinking you could influence how Alabamians vote. And that’s what makes Alabamians mad. Don’t come down here and tell us how to vote,” she said.

Moore arrived at the event Saturday morning with his wife, Kayla, amid boos from about a dozen protesters. He declined to answer questions as he walked inside and as he left.

“I was horrified,” Lisa Wienhold, 56, who held a sign that read “No Moore,” said of the allegations. “I never liked Roy Moore that much, but when I heard about that, I was beyond horrified. . . . There are a lot of smart people who have been on the other side for whom maybe this will be the final straw.”


A protester speaks to reporters after Moore delivered remarks before the Mid-Alabama Republican Club. (Cameron Carnes/For The Washington Post)

“I’m not surprised,” said Lisa Sharlach, 49, holding a sign that read “Grabby Old Pervert.” “It’s usually the people who are screaming God and Jesus that are the ones with skeletons in the closet.”


Moore supporter Willie Casey before Moore spoke at a Veterans Day breakfast event. (Cameron Carnes/For The Washington Post)

Moore spoke Saturday after addressing the charges of sexual misconduct in a radio interview with Sean Hannity on Friday.

“These allegations are completely false and misleading,” he told Hannity. He specifically denied The Post’s report that he had a sexual encounter with Corfman in 1979. However, in the interview Friday, Moore did not rule out that he may have dated girls in their late teens when he was in his 30s.

Moore’s campaign faces a steeper climb financially after the National Republican Senatorial Committee on Friday pulled out of a joint fundraising committee with him. Deprived of a key source of campaign funding, Moore has sought to capi­tal­ize on the controversy in fundraising appeals to supporters.

“The Obama-Clinton Machine’s liberal media lapdogs just launched the most vicious and nasty round of attacks against me I’ve EVER faced,” he wrote in a mass email sent by the campaign under his wife’s name on Saturday morning.

“Rest assured I will NEVER GIVE UP the fight!” he wrote.

Moore’s backers showed no signs of abandoning him Saturday.

“I’m here to give him a check for $1,000,” Creel said outside the library. “I may even double-down on the judge.”

Hamburger reported from Washington. Michael Scherer in Washington contributed to this report.

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North Korean insults to US leaders are nothing new — but Trump’s deeply personal reactions are

November 12, 2017 by  
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President Trump takes part in a bilateral meeting at the Presidential Palace in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Sunday. (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)

In a string of tweets fired off Sunday morning from Hanoi, Vietnam, President Trump responded with sarcastic insults to a recent message from the North Korean government that had referred to him as “old.”

“Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me ‘old,’ when I would NEVER call him ‘short and fat?’” Trump wrote in his tweet, referring to the leader of North Korea’s ruling dynasty. “Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend — and maybe someday that will happen!”

The message marks an unusually personal escalation of the tensions between the United States and North Korea over Pyongyang’s weapons program. It is also another sign of the change in rhetoric used to address North Korea since Trump took office: Though North Korea has long been known for hurling bellicose insults at world leaders, rarely have those world leaders responded in kind.

Of course, Trump is a not your average world leader. The current president is a pugnacious social media user often willing to respond with his own harsh words when he feels wronged. As a spokeswoman for his wife, Melania Trump, put it earlier this year, when Trump is attacked “he will punch back 10 times harder.”

Whether this instinct to hit back could help his self-described efforts toward becoming Kim’s friend in the future — or harm them — is unclear.

The North Korean message that aggrieved Trump was released by the country’s foreign ministry on Saturday and described Trump’s 12-day tour of Asia as “a warmonger’s trip for confrontation with our country, trying to remove our self-defensive nuclear deterrent.” The statement also criticized the “reckless remarks by an old lunatic like Trump will never scare us or stop our advance.”

The North Korean government has insulted Trump personally numerous times. Its state-run media has run a number of unflattering descriptions of Trump, including the memorable use of the word “dotard” in September. It has frequently referred to Trump as “old” and accused him of being a “war maniac” and a “lunatic.”

These insults come at a time of heightened tension between Washington and Pyongyang. North Korea has pushed ahead with its weapons program over the past few months, conducting a number of long-range missile tests, plus a nuclear bomb test, since Trump took office.

However, the insults also fit into a long tradition of insulting American leaders. In 2014, the U.S. government criticized a lengthy racist screed published by North Korea’s State-run Korean Central News Agency that had referred to President Barack Obama as a “dirty fellow,” among other things.

In recent years, North Korea has also insulted former secretaries of state John F. Kerry (“hideous lantern jaw”) and Hillary Clinton (both a “schoolgirl” and a “pensioner”), while the entire administration of President George W. Bush was referred to as “a bunch of tricksters and political imbeciles.” The Americans have not responded with their own public insults, though Bush did privately call Kim’s father, Kim Jong Il, a “pygmy” in 2002 according to reports at the time.

Trump’s descriptions of North Korea’s current leader have varied, and he has even been positive at times —  describing him as a “pretty smart cookie” in April. But as tensions with North Korea have escalated, so too has the harshness of the American president’s rhetoric, with Trump dismissively referring to Kim as “little rocket man” and warning of “fire and fury” if North Korean threats continued — a statement which perhaps inadvertently echoed North Korean propaganda.

Some had worried that Trump would use similarly personal and angry language while in South Korea last week and run the risk of inciting the North. However, though his speech to South Korea’s National Assembly was deeply critical of North Korea, it was less bombastic and more measured than his previous statements.

That speech, was drawn up carefully with the input of others in Trump’s administration. Trump, however, is a famously impulsive tweeter.

Worse still, for both sides the insults may pick on sensitive spots. Trump is the oldest first-term president in U.S. history and more than twice the age of the North Korean leader. Meanwhile, Kim’s height is estimated to be five-foot-seven, and he is rumored to suffer health problems due to his weight.

More on WorldViews

Trump’s ‘fire and fury’ statement echoes North Korea’s own threats

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