An Alabama woman says Roy Moore, the Republican nominee for next month's U.S. Senate election, made inappropriate advances and had sexual contact with her when she was 14, according to a Washington Post story Thursday.
Moore denied the allegations in a statement, calling them “completely false” and “a desperate political attack by the National Democrat Party and the Washington Post on this campaign.”
According to Moore, if the allegations were true, they would have surfaced during his previous campaigns. “This garbage is the very definition of fake news,” he said.
The White House press secretary said aboard Air Force One that President Donald Trump believes Moore “will do the right thing and step aside” if the allegations are proved to be true.
Senior Republicans swiftly called for Moore to step aside if the allegations are shown to be true.
"The allegations against Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore are deeply troubling," said Colorado Sen. Chairman Cory Gardner, who leads the Senate GOP campaign arm. "If these allegations are found to be true, Roy Moore must drop out of the Alabama special Senate election."
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell added, "If these allegations are true, he must step aside."
The incidents are reported to have taken place when Moore, a 70-year-old former state Supreme Court judge, was serving as an assistant district attorney in his early 30s, according to the Post.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell speaks to reporters about allegations made against Alabama senate candidate Roy Moore on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., Nov. 9, 2017.
The newspaper reports that Moore, then 32, first approached 14-year-old Leigh Corfman in early 1979 outside a courtroom in Etowah county, Alabama.
After phone calls and meetings, he drove her to his home some days later and kissed her, the Post quotes Corfman as saying. On a second visit, he took off her shirt and pants and removed his clothes except for his underwear before touching her over her bra and underpants, Corfman told the Post. He also guided her hand to touch him over his underwear, she said.
"I wanted it over with — I wanted out," she told the Post. "Please just get this over with. Whatever this is, just get it over."
Alabama law lists the legal age of consent as 16.
In Alabama, the statute of limitations for bringing felony charges involving sexual abuse of a minor in 1979 would have run out three years later. Corfman never filed a police report or a civil suit, the Post said.
Aside from Corfman, three other women interviewed by the Post in recent weeks said Moore approached them when they were between the ages of 16 and 18 and he was in his early 30s. None of the other women said that Moore forced them into any sort of relationship or sexual contact.
Moore won the right to represent the GOP in the Dec. 12 special election after surviving a bruising primary election that divided the GOP, including Trump and his former chief strategist Steve Bannon. Trump backed Sen. Luther Strange in the contest, while Bannon and much of the far-right portion of the party backed Moore.