Former Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore (R) on Wednesday condemned the sexual assault allegation against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, saying he believes Democrats and the mainstream news media manufacture claims against conservatives to derail their candidacies and appointments.
In an interview with the right-wing One America News Network (OANN), Moore, who in December lost his special election bid to now-Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) after The Washington Post reported decades-old sexual misconduct allegations from multiple women, said that Democrats were dredging up the claims against Kavanaugh in a last-ditch attempt to derail his confirmation.
“It’s so obvious that these tactics are used just days before a very important event like this, a Senate confirmation. It’s right in the midst of a confirmation hearing,” Moore said. “And I think Republicans need to take a stand.”
{mosads}Kavanaugh was accused over the weekend in a Washington Post interview by a Palo Alto University professor, Christine Blasey Ford, of sexually assaulting her at a high school party when the two were students.
“I think it’s reflective of what’s really happening that these allegations come in the midst of a Senate confirmation for the United States Supreme Court, just as they did in my case,” the former state supreme court justice said.
“[Democrats] don’t care about transparency, they just use it because it’s effective,” he continued. “They know [that] on the one hand, you offend women if you believe someone who says they weren’t guilty.”
“On the other hand, if you don’t believe [the accused], you’re condemning them to guilt before [he has the ability] to prove his own innocence,” Moore added. “So it’s a catch-22.”
Senators have scrambled to respond to the allegations against Kavanaugh that surfaced in the past week, with Democrats calling for the FBI to investigate Ford’s claims while Republicans have called on Ford to testify to her story, either publicly before the Senate or in private.
Kavanaugh has denied the allegations, while President Trump and the White House have issued statements of support on his behalf in recent days.
“I really want to see her. I really would want to see what she has to say,” Trump said of Ford on Wednesday before departing for storm-ravaged areas in North Carolina.
“Look, if she shows up and makes a credible showing, that’ll be very interesting, and we’ll have to make a decision,” he continued. “But I can only say this: he is such an outstanding man, very hard for me to imagine anything happened.”