Fox News host Sean Hannity issued an ultimatum to GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore over his response to the flood of sexual harassment allegations against him.
Hannity gave Moore 24 hours to either explain the inconsistencies in his account or drop out of the race. If not, Hannity — who supported Moore early on — will withdraw his support. Hannity’s ultimatum came after a fifth woman accused Moore of making advances on teenage girls while he was an attorney in his 30s.
“Before we close tonight I want to address the new very serious misconduct allegations against Judge Roy Moore. If you watch this program regularly you know I will not rush to judgment, we have seen in the media and politicians get it wrong so many times, I’ve outlined all of that,” Hannity started off saying.
“In light of new information about Judge Roy Moore, we have to address this issue tonight. We should be troubled by two things: when the Washington Post story first broke I said that the allegations it should be taken seriously, they should be fully investigated. It’s a 14-year-old girl. We need to discover the truth,” he continued.
“I also said, I can understand why women wait years to come forward to because of the evil that in cases where they are guilty, it’s evil trauma, I can understand it, people have a difficult time talking about it years later.” Hannity then walked through how Moore had changed his answers when the conservative host pressed him during a radio interview.
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“He denied knowing this fifth accuser but this accuser has brought forth a yearbook that he appeared to sign ‘to a sweeter, more beautiful girl, I could not say Merry Christmas, love Roy Moore,'” Hannity noted.
“Here’s where I am tonight: between this interview that I did and inconsistent answers come up between him saying I never knew this girl and then that yearbook comes out,” he said.
“You must immediately and fully come up with a satisfactory explanation for your inconsistency,” Hannity said, demanding “remove any doubt. If you can’t do this, then you need to get out of this race.”
“The American people deserve 100 percent truth and honesty. We needed to correct answers first time on issues of this serious. You owe that to the people of Alabama, to the Republican Party that you represent and to the country which is suffering under so many problems. We deserve answers and consistent answers,” he added.
Republicans have rushed to distance themselves from Moore amidst the allegations, which the candidate has been unable to explain away.
Earlier on Tuesday, Moore’s wife falsely stated that the restaurant where Moore allegedly assaulted the most recent accuser didn’t exist at the time. In fact, the restaurant did exist.