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| 'We need Roy Moore': Trump backs accused child molester for Senate | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Donald Trump on Monday threw his full support behind embattled Republican Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate race. | Donald Trump on Monday threw his full support behind embattled Republican Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate race. |
| Trump tweeted early in the day that “Democrats refusal to give even one vote for massive tax cuts is why we need Republican Roy Moore to win in Alabama. | Trump tweeted early in the day that “Democrats refusal to give even one vote for massive tax cuts is why we need Republican Roy Moore to win in Alabama. |
| “We need his vote on stopping crime, illegal immigration, Border Wall, Military, Pro Life, V.A., Judges 2nd Amendment and more. No to Jones, a Pelosi/Schumer Puppet!” | “We need his vote on stopping crime, illegal immigration, Border Wall, Military, Pro Life, V.A., Judges 2nd Amendment and more. No to Jones, a Pelosi/Schumer Puppet!” |
| Referring again to the Democratic leaders in the House and Senate, Trump added: “Putting Pelosi/Schumer Liberal Puppet Jones into office in Alabama would hurt our great Republican Agenda of low on taxes, tough on crime, strong on military and borders...& so much more.” | Referring again to the Democratic leaders in the House and Senate, Trump added: “Putting Pelosi/Schumer Liberal Puppet Jones into office in Alabama would hurt our great Republican Agenda of low on taxes, tough on crime, strong on military and borders...& so much more.” |
| In 2005, Moore said: “Homosexual conduct should be illegal.” In an interview televised on C-Span, Moore added: “It is immoral. It is defined by the law as detestable.” During a debate in September 2017, he went out of his way to bemoan the fact that “sodomy [and] sexual perversion sweep the land”. | |
| In a speech in February, Moore appeared to suggest that the terrorist attacks of September 11 were the result of divine retribution against the United States and prophesized in the Book of Isaiah. In comments first reported by CNN, Moore quoted Isaiah 30:12-13, saying: “Because you have despised His word and trust in perverseness and oppression, and say thereon ... therefore this iniquity will be to you as a breach ready to fall, swell out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instance.” Moore then noted: “Sounds a little bit like the Pentagon, whose breaking came suddenly at an instance, doesn’t it?” He added: “If you think that’s coincidence, if you go to verse 25: ‘There should be up on every high mountain and upon every hill, rivers and streams of water in the day of the great slaughter when the towers will fall.’" | |
| In an interview with the Guardian in August, Moore praised Putin for his views on gay rights. “Maybe Putin is right. Maybe he’s more akin to me than I know.” The comments came after Moore suggested the United States could be described as “the focus of evil in the world” because “we promote a lot of bad things”. Moore specifically named gay marriage as one of those “bad things”. | |
| At a rally earlier in September, Moore talked about “reds and yellows fighting” while discussing racial division in the United States. Moore justified this on Twitter by citing lyrics from the song Jesus Loves the Little Children. He wrote “Red, yellow, black and white they are precious in His sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world. This is the Gospel.” | |
| In 2006, Moore condemned a proposal for a national ID system for animals as “more identifiable with communism than free enterprise”. The proposal received attention after a cow in Alabama had been diagnosed with mad cow disease. Moore, who was then running for governor, was skeptical that the outbreak was real. Instead, Moore suggested it was a ruse intended to promote the tracking system. | |
| It was Trump’s most full-throated endorsement yet of Moore, who has lost the backing of many top Republicans since the Washington Post first reported allegations of sexual misconduct with young women decades ago. | It was Trump’s most full-throated endorsement yet of Moore, who has lost the backing of many top Republicans since the Washington Post first reported allegations of sexual misconduct with young women decades ago. |
| Trump has assailed the Democratic candidate, Doug Jones, and has defended Moore against allegations of child molestation. But the White House has also said the president has no plans to make campaign appearances. He has, however, agreed to headline a campaign-style rally in Pensacola, Florida, less than 20 miles from the Alabama border just four days before the Senate election. | Trump has assailed the Democratic candidate, Doug Jones, and has defended Moore against allegations of child molestation. But the White House has also said the president has no plans to make campaign appearances. He has, however, agreed to headline a campaign-style rally in Pensacola, Florida, less than 20 miles from the Alabama border just four days before the Senate election. |
| The Alabama special election, to fill the seat vacated by Trump’s attorney general, Jeff Sessions, will take place on Tuesday 12 December. | The Alabama special election, to fill the seat vacated by Trump’s attorney general, Jeff Sessions, will take place on Tuesday 12 December. |
| Trump supported Luther Strange, the appointed incumbent, in the primary but Strange was beaten by Moore, a controversial hardline conservative judge who had the backing of Steve Bannon, Trump’s former senior White House strategist who is mounting a challenge to the party establishment. | Trump supported Luther Strange, the appointed incumbent, in the primary but Strange was beaten by Moore, a controversial hardline conservative judge who had the backing of Steve Bannon, Trump’s former senior White House strategist who is mounting a challenge to the party establishment. |
| Moore has defied calls to step down over the allegations by a number of women, one of whom alleges that he initiated sexual contact with her when she was 14 and he was in his 30s. | Moore has defied calls to step down over the allegations by a number of women, one of whom alleges that he initiated sexual contact with her when she was 14 and he was in his 30s. |
| Moore denies all the allegations and said last week they were the result of a conspiracy that included “lesbians, gays, bisexuals and socialists”. | Moore denies all the allegations and said last week they were the result of a conspiracy that included “lesbians, gays, bisexuals and socialists”. |
| On Monday he thanked Trump, tweeting: “Thankful for President Trump’s support. The America First agenda will #MAGA. Can’t wait to help him #DrainTheSwamp.” | |
| Moore’s opponent, Doug Jones, is a prosecutor who helped to convict two Ku Klux Klan members over the 1963 bombing of an African American church in Birmingham in which four young girls were killed. | Moore’s opponent, Doug Jones, is a prosecutor who helped to convict two Ku Klux Klan members over the 1963 bombing of an African American church in Birmingham in which four young girls were killed. |
| The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, who has said he believes Moore’s accusers, is now taking a slightly different position. | The Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, who has said he believes Moore’s accusers, is now taking a slightly different position. |
| “I think that at this point, we’re just going to let the people of Alabama make their decision,” McConnell told the Associated Press on Sunday. | “I think that at this point, we’re just going to let the people of Alabama make their decision,” McConnell told the Associated Press on Sunday. |
| McConnell said he believed the Senate ethics committee would take up an investigation if Moore is elected, but that it would be up to that panel to decide how it wanted to proceed. | McConnell said he believed the Senate ethics committee would take up an investigation if Moore is elected, but that it would be up to that panel to decide how it wanted to proceed. |
| “The ethics committee will have to consider the matters that have been litigated in the campaign should that particular candidate win,” McConnell said on ABC’s This Week. “And I’m confident they’ll come up with the right conclusion.” | “The ethics committee will have to consider the matters that have been litigated in the campaign should that particular candidate win,” McConnell said on ABC’s This Week. “And I’m confident they’ll come up with the right conclusion.” |
| The realclearpolitics.com polling average for the Alabama race gives Moore a three-point lead. | The realclearpolitics.com polling average for the Alabama race gives Moore a three-point lead. |
| He had fallen to level or behind his opponent in the deep red state, before, observers believe, sexual harassment allegations against prominent Democrats John Conyers and Al Franken swayed the minds of some voters. | He had fallen to level or behind his opponent in the deep red state, before, observers believe, sexual harassment allegations against prominent Democrats John Conyers and Al Franken swayed the minds of some voters. |