Alabama Senate hopeful Roy Moore faced a growing chorus of calls from his fellow Republicans to quit the race Sunday over accusations he pursued sexual and romantic relationships with teenage girls.
GOP and Democratic pols alike piled on Moore as a new poll showed his Democratic opponent, Doug Jones, with a lead in the race for the first time.
Republican Sen. Pat Toomey was the latest to say Sunday that Moore should drop out — insisting his denials of wrongdoing don’t ring true.
“I have to say I think the accusations have more credibility than the denial. I think it would be best if Roy would just step aside,” Toomey, of Pennsylvania, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“I don’t find the denial terribly credible.”
If he refuses, Toomey said Republicans should consider backing an another candidate in a write-in bid — like Sen. Luther Strange, who lost the nomination to Moore in a primary.
The Washington Post reported last week that Moore had a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old girl when he was in his 30s, and pursued romantic relationships with other teenagers. Moore has denied the accounts.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, said Sunday it was time for the former Alabama judge — previously best known for being ousted from office over his refusal to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments — to quit.
“It’s just really a matter as to whether he ought to be the candidate, the standard-bearer of the Republican Party. And I just think he shouldn’t be,” Kasich, who also suggested Republicans back a write-in challenger, said on ABC’s “This Week.”
A poll released Sunday by JMC Analytics and Polling found that Democrat Jones, a former U.S. attorney, had pulled ahead of Moore by a 46% to 42% margin. The gap was within the poll’s 4.1-point margin of error, but showed a disappearance of the 8-point lead Moore held before the accusations surfaced.
The special election to fill the seat previously held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions is scheduled for Dec. 12.
Three Trump administration officials said Sunday that Moore should quit if the charges against him are true, though none of them would say firmly whether they believe the women who have come forward.
“The conduct as described should disqualify anyone from serving in public office,” President Trump’s counselor Kellyanne Conway said on “This Week.”
But she added, “It would be a very dangerous precedent for any of us, for any person in this country to just be cast aside as guilty because of press reports.”
“I think that there’s a special place in hell for those who actually perpetrate these crimes,” White House legislative director Marc Short said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“There’s no Senate seat more important than the notion of child pedophilia.”
But he also said that Moore should be given more time to defend himself.
“He has not been proven guilty. We have to afford him the chance to defend himself,” he said.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin struck the same balance, saying on CNN’s “State of the Union” that “if the allegations prove to be true, he should step down,” but added “I only know what I see on TV and what I read in the paper.”
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said the on-the-record accounts from multiple women carry more weight than Moore’s claims of “fake news.”
“The allegations are very, very strong. The denial was not as strong as the allegations,” he said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said Trump should intervene to get Moore out of the race.
“President Trump is the leader of the Republican Party in America. It’s his responsibility to step forward and say more and do more when it comes to this situation in Alabama,” he said on CNN.
A former colleague of Moore’s said Saturday that it was “common knowledge” that the Alabama Republican dated high school girls while he was the assistant district attorney for Etowah County.
Moore, during a Huntsville campaign rally, said the “untrue” Post story was “a desperate attempt to stop my political campaign.”
He said the newspaper “will be sued.”
Moore worked in the district attorney’s office from 1977 until 1982, and his co-workers found it strange that he regularly dated high school girls, Teresa Jones, former deputy district attorney for Etowah County from 1982 until 1985, told CNN.
No one confronted him about the behavior, which included preying on young girls at high school gatherings, at the time, she said.
“It was common knowledge that Roy Moore dated high school girls. Everyone we knew thought it was weird,” Jones told CNN.
“We wondered why someone his age would hang out at high school football games and the mall … but you really wouldn’t say anything to someone like that,” she said.
