Judge Roy Moore, embattled Alabama GOP candidate for the U.S. Senate, called for Sen. Mitch McConnell to step down after the Majority Leader said he was looking at ways to prevent Moore from serving in the Senate.
“I want to tell you who needs to step down — That’s Mitch McConnell,” Moore said at press conference Thursday.
Senate Majority Leader McConnell called for Moore to step out of the race Tuesday, less than a week after The Washington Post published a story where four women alleged Moore made overtures to date them as teenagers. One woman accused Moore of touching her over her undergarments, and said he guided her hand over his underwear after he brought her to his house. Since the Post’s report, several other women have come forward with accusations against Moore.
“He’s obviously not fit to be in the United States Senate,” McConnell said of Moore. “And we’ve looked at all the options to try to prevent that from happening.”
Moore continues to deny the accusations against him. “As you know, The Washington Post has brought some scurrilous, false charges, not charges, allegations, which I have emphatically denied time and time again. They’re not only untrue, but they have no evidence to support them,” Moore said Thursday.
Appearing at the conference with Moore were dozens of conservative activists, including Faith2Action president Janet Porter, who organized the event, Dr. Steven Hotze, CEO of Restore Our Godly Heritage PAC, and Andy Schlafly, attorney and son of the late pro-family activist Phyllis Schlafly.
Moore said that the media was focusing on the allegations of impropriety instead of the issues important to the country. “What I want to do in this campaign is very simple: It’s to get back to the issues, which some are avoiding addressing. I haven’t had one question from the press or the media about issues in this case since these allegations occurred,” Moore said.
“What is important is how we address the future of this country, and by cutting taxes rebuilding our military, repealing Obamacare, and putting good judges and justices on the federal and supreme court of the United States,” Moore said.
During the conference, Moore shared advice that he received when he first started running for elected office in the Alabama judiciary. He said an older judge told him a man needs three things to run for office: Glasses, “that shows people that you study a lot and read a lot”; greying hair “to show your age”; and hemorrhoids. “I don’t understand that. I don’t have hemorrhoids,” Moore said he told the judge.
“‘You have to have hemorrhoids,'” the judge told Moore. “‘It gives you a concerned look.'”
Moore said that what brought many people from around across the country to support him “is a concern for our country and concern for our future.” The leaders gathered to support him “know that this country faces rough times ahead, if we don’t go back to the one upon whom it is founded,” Moore said.
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