US President Donald Trump says Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore should leave the race if the sexual misconduct allegations against him are true.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said on Thursday the president found the allegations against Moore “troubling.”
“The president believes that these allegations are very troubling and should be taken seriously,” Sanders said at a news briefing.
“The president said in his statement earlier this week that if the allegations are true, then Roy Moore should step aside. He still firmly believes that,” she said.
On Wednesday, four more women leveled sexual assault accusations against Moore, in a damaging sex scandal that has cost the Alabamian dearly in the heat of the campaign.
Last week, The Washington Post published the first case. The report accused more Moore of taking Leigh Corfman, now 53, into his house in the woods near Gadsden, when she was 14 years old, and abusing her by removing her shirt and pants.
So far, nine women have come out against the Republican hopeful, who has lost many endorsements from his fellow party members.
Republican leaders in Washington, DC, have said they believe the women accusing Moore and have demanded he withdraw from the race before the December 12 vote.
On Thursday, Sanders was asked if Trump’s endorsement of Moore still stands, she said the president thinks Alabama voters should decide the candidate’s fate.
She added the president backed the Republican National Committee’s decision to withdraw resources from the contest.
Moore, 70, has denied the allegations, saying they are “not only untrue but they have no evidence to support them.”
Moore, a former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice, accused Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell and others of attempting “to steal this election from the people of Alabama.”
Meanwhile, the Alabama Republican Party announced on Thursday it would continue to support Moore.
“He deserves to be presumed innocent of the accusations unless proven otherwise,” state party Chairwoman Terry Lathan said in a statement.
Trump slams Dem senator after groping allegations, dubs him ‘Al Frankenstein’
Democratic Senator Al Franken participates in a Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing on hurricane recovery efforts in Puerto Rico and US Virgin Islands, on Capitol Hill November 14, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by AFP)
Meanwhile, Democratic Senator and former comedian Al Franken issued an apology on Thursday after being accused of forcibly kissing and groping a Los Angeles-based news anchor while she was asleep.
Leeann Tweeden made the allegations in an op-ed published by KABC radio that detailed an encounter with Franken during a tour of the Middle East to entertain US troops in 2006.
On Thursday night, Trump condemned Franken. The president tweeted that the picture posted by Tweeden “speaks a thousand words.”
“The Al Frankenstien picture is really bad, speaks a thousand words. Where do his hands go in pictures 2, 3, 4, 5 & 6 while she sleeps?” Trump tweeted.
“And to think that just last week he was lecturing anyone who would listen about sexual harassment and respect for women. Lesley Stahl tape?” he added in another tweet.
Trump himself has long faced sexual misconduct allegations and has even a Wikipedia entry regarding the scandal.
