Jonathan Bachman/AP
- President Donald Trump reiterated his support for Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore at a campaign rally near the Florida-Alabama border Friday night.
- Trump stressed his desire for more GOP lawmakers in Congress.
- Trump also threw cold water on the legitimacy of one of Moore’s accusers, following a report that the proof she submitted as evidence was edited.
President Donald Trump emphasized the Republican Party’s need to grab more congressional seats, and in doing so, reiterated his support for the Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore, during a campaign rally in Pensacola, Florida, a city that nearly borders southern Alabama.
“We can’t afford to have a liberal democrat who is completely controlled by Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer,” Trump said to the crowd on Friday, referring to Alabama’s Democratic Senate candidate Doug Jones. “His name is Jones and he’s their total puppet. And everybody knows it.”
“He will never ever vote for us,” Trump continued. “We need somebody in that Senate seat who will vote for our ‘Make America Great Again’ agenda.”
Moore, a polarizing figure for both Democrats and Republicans after several reports of sexual misconduct with underaged girls surfaced in November, received the Republican National Committee’s endorsement on Monday after the RNC withdrew it just weeks earlier.
During his speech, Trump noted reports that Beverly Young Nelson — one of Moore’s accusers who alleged that he sexually assaulted her when she was 16-years-old in the 1970s — had written “notes” inside her yearbook, underneath an inscription she claimed was Moore’s signature.
Moore’s campaign quickly lashed out at Nelson’s admission, casting doubt on the legitimacy of the signature.
“I have to say this, we have to be fair,” Trump said. “So did you see what happened today? You know, the yearbook?”
“There was a little mistake made,” Trump said sarcastically. “She started writing things in the yearbook. Ah, what are we gonna do.”
Despite the criticism of Nelson’s admission, her attorney Gloria Allred said that a handwriting expert had sampled Moore’s handwriting and believed that the signature in the yearbook was indeed Moore’s.
“We think it’s important evidence that supports Beverly’s statements that Roy Moore asked to sign her yearbook when she was just 16 years old,” Allred said at the press conference. “And it demonstrates that when Roy Moore stated ‘I do not know any of these women,’ that statement does not appear to be true.”
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