Getty Roy Moore.
Roy Moore, the Republican nominee for Jeff Sessions’ U.S. Senate seat in Alabama, has been socked with accusations from women who say that he made overtures on them – and that in two cases, they say progressed to kissing or sexual contact – when they were underage. Moore has strongly denied the accusations, attributing them to the Democrats and The Washington Post, which broke the story.
The Washington Post exclusive provided quotes from four named women, three of whom say they were 17 or under when Moore approached them; two of those women say that romantic contact resulted when they were 14 and 16, respectively. The third says she turned down the alleged request for a date, and the fourth says she was 18 when an encounter occurred. Moore was a 32-year-old single assistant district attorney at the time. The age of consent is 16 in Alabama and has been since 1920.
GettySuspended Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore speaks to parishoners at The Church of the Apostles September 7, 2003 in Atlanta, Georgia. Moore’s Ten Commandments monument was recently removed from the Alabama Judicial Building in Montgomery, Alabama.
In the primary, Moore defeated Luther Strange, the incumbent via gubernatorial appointment, who was heartily endorsed by both Donald Trump and Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. He is now the Republican nominee and is facing Democrat Doug Jones in the closely watched Senate election. Bombastic and defiant, underfunded, prone to controversial statements (including about Vladimir Putin), and railing against Washington elites, Moore was controversial even before the recent accusations. He’s also a Vietnam veteran and former prosecutor. Moore, a Republican, received national attention for his defiance over the Ten Commandments and same-sex marriage, and he’s often made religion the centerpiece of his public life. He has been harshly critical of transgender people serving in the U.S. military.
“These allegations are completely false and are a desperate political attack by the National Democrat Party and the Washington Post on this campaign,” Moore said to the Washington Post through a statement. However, some Republicans are already calling for Moore to drop out if the accusations are true. There’s been talk of Luther Strange running as a write-in candidate.
Sen. Jeff Flake says “of course” he’s concerned about the Roy Moore story in WaPo. Asked if Moore should withdraw, Flake said: “if these prove true, yes.”
Here’s the list of the women named by the Post, both underage and not, including a summary of their allegations. For more details of what they told The Post, you can go here.
Leigh Corfman
Corfman and her mother told the Post that Moore approached her as they sat on a bench outside an Alabama courthouse when she was 14. She told the newspaper that he later picked her up at her house and kissed her, and “on a second visit, she says, he took off her shirt and pants and removed his clothes. He touched her over her bra and underpants, she says, and guided her hand to touch him over his underwear.”
Wendy Miller
Wendy Miller told The Washington Post that “she was 14 and working as a Santa’s helper at the Gadsden Mall when Moore first approached her, and 16 when he asked her on dates, which her mother forbade.”
Debbie Wesson Gibson
Debbie Wesson Gibson told The Post that she was “17 when Moore spoke to her high school civics class and asked her out on the first of several dates that did not progress beyond kissing.”
Gloria Thacker Deason
Gloria Thacker Deason told The Post that “she was an 18-year-old cheerleader when Moore began taking her on dates that included bottles of Mateus Rosé wine. The legal drinking age in Alabama was 19.”
According to his Chief Justice biography, Roy Moore “graduated from Etowah High School in Attalla, Alabama, in 1965, and from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1969. He served in the U.S. Army as a company commander with the Military Police Corps in Vietnam. Chief Justice Moore completed his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Alabama School of Law in 1977.”
Moore “became the first full-time Deputy District Attorney in Etowah County, Alabama, and served in this position from 1977 until 1982. In 1984, Chief Justice Moore undertook private practice of law in Gadsden, Alabama,” according to the bio.
In 1992, Moore became a judge in Alabama, serving “until his election as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court in 2000.”
“From 2003 until 2012, Chief Justice Moore served as President of the Foundation for Moral Law in Montgomery, speaking throughout the Country and filing amicus curiae briefs regarding the United States Constitution in Federal District Courts, State Supreme Courts, U.S. Courts of Appeal and the United States Supreme Court,” the bio notes.
Moore and his wife Kayla “have four children and three grandchildren. They are members of First Baptist Church in Gallant, Alabama,” his bio reads.
You can read more about Roy Moore here.
