Alt-right propagandist and former President Trump advisor Steve Bannon has backed a Republican candidate for the US senate who has been accused of paedophilia.
It has been claimed the party’s nominee in Alabama, Roy Moore, isolated a girl from her mother when she was 14, took her to his home, removed her clothes and touched her inappropriately. Three other women have alleged he also pursued them when they were teenagers.
Senior Republicans have said Moore should only leave the race to be Alabama’s senator if the allegations are true. Moore has denied the claims and condemned “any man who engages in sexual misconduct not just against minors but against any woman”. His campaign dismissed the on-the-record testimonies by alleged victims as “fake news”.
Moore has also said he will unveil “revelations” about the women accusing him of sexual misconduct and questioned why the allegations would emerge now, after he has run five statewide political races in the past 17 years.
Bannon, a former White House chief strategist and current head of far-right news network Breitbart, said yesterday he is “standing with” Moore.
It’s a position echoed by President Trump, whose spokeswoman said he “does not believe we can allow a mere allegation” from “many years ago” to “destroy a person’s life,” adding that it would be the “right thing” to “step aside,” but only “if these allegations are true.”
Bannon said: “Until I see additional evidence on Judge Moore, I'm standing with him.”
Moore, a former state supreme court justice, is known for his far-right views and founded a Christian right legal advocacy group known as the Foundation for Moral Law, which has campaigned against same sex marriage and abortion.
Reports by The Washington Post published last week detailed allegations that 70-year-old Moore had pursued sexual relationships with several women when they were between 14 and 18 years old and he was in his 30s, and in one instance had sexual contact with an underage teen.
Leigh Corfman claims Moore first approached her when she was with her mother outside a courtroom in 1979 when she was 14-year-old.
It is alleged Moore, then a 32-year-old assistant district attorney, offered to watch Corfman while her mother went inside for a child custody hearing.
Moore is said to have obtained the girl’s phone number and days later picked her up near her house, drove her to his home in the woods, told her she was pretty and kissed her. On a second visit it is alleged he removed her clothing, touched her over her bra and underpants, removed his clothing and guided her hand to touch him over his underwear.
“I wasn’t ready for that – I had never put my hand on a man’s penis, much less an erect one,” she told The Washington Post.
“I wanted it over with - I wanted out,” she said. “Please just get this over with. Whatever this is, just get it over.”
Three other women interviewed by The Washington Post in recent weeks claim Moore pursued them when they were between the ages of 16 and 18 and he was in his early 30s.
One child aged 14 claims she was working as a Santa’s helper at a shopping centre when Moore first approached her. A 17-year-old said Moore spoke to her high school class and asked her out. She said they kissed over the course of several dates. A third woman alleged Moore took her on a date and plied her with drink when she was an 18-year-old cheerleader. The legal drinking age in Alabama was 19.
Doug Jones, Moore’s Democratic opponent, has said: “Roy Moore needs to answer these serious charges.”
Moore said he has never provided alcohol to minors and “never engaged in sexual misconduct”.
In a prepared statement he said: “As a father of a daughter and a grandfather of five granddaughters, I condemn the actions of any man who engages in sexual misconduct not just against minors but against any woman.”
Moore’s campaign chairman Bill Armistead said: “This garbage is the very definition of fake news and intentional defamation.”
The United States Senate special election in Alabama to choose a successor to Jeff Sessions - who was promoted to Attorney General - is scheduled for December 12.
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