Over the last week, the sexual misconduct allegations directed at Republican senate candidate Roy Moore have dominated the political headlines. After first giving his remarks on the situation through his press secretary, Donald Trump decided to speak out on the scandal while speaking to reporters.
Trump on Moore
In the midst of the ever growing allegations of sexual assault and harassment against celebrities and the downfall of Hollywood, politicians don't seem to be immune to criticism either.
With the race to fill the vacant senate seat in Alabama just weeks away, Republican nominee Roy Moore was accused of attempting to engage in sexual activity with at least four underage girls dating back to as far as 1979. Originally reported by the Washington Post, Moore was accused by various women, including Leigh Corfman who claims that the senate hopeful attempted to move in on her when she was just 14-years-old, and when he was 32. At least three other women came forward to the paper, who have 30 sources to back up their story, who say that they were between the ages of 16 and 18 when the alleged incidents took place at the time Moore was working at the district attorney's office.
In addition to the aforementioned allegations, Moore was also accused of buying alcohol for the underage girls. Once the news broke, reactions from Republicans were mixed, with some defending Moore, and others calling for him to drop out of the race. As for Donald Trump, his initial remarks were made through White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who said the president hoped Moore would step down if the allegations were true, but warned that people shouldn't rush to judgement. As reported by The Hill on November 11, the president has finally addressed the scandal himself, but left much to be desired.
On Saturday, Donald Trump addressed the media on Air Force One during the middle of his 12-day foreign trip through Asia and spoke about a wide-range of topics.
When the scandal involving Roy Moore was brought up, the president did his best to deflect. "I'm dealing with the president of China, the president of Russia," Trump told reporters, explaining, "I haven’t been able to devote very much time to it."
Donald Trump then doubled down on his original statement given by Sarah Huckabee Sanders where he said he hopes Roy Moore would "do the right thing" and step down if the claims against him prove to be true. "I’ll stick with my statement for now, but I’ll have further comment as we go down the road," Trump stated, while adding, "I have to get back into the country to see what’s happening."
Twitter responds
Not long after Donald Trump's remarks about Roy Moore went public, critics across Twitter made sure to sound off.
"He likes Republicans who haven't been caught," one tweet read.
"He wouldn't be too busy if it was the other side," a Twitter user pointed out. "Yeah, Trump's been too busy being a co*kholster. Of course, Trump also tends to favor teenage girls," an additional tweet added.
"Birds of a feather. Both meet the classical definition of perverts," a tweet noted. "Of course, he has his own pile of sexual assault accusations to deal with!!" a social media user wrote. The negative reaction to Donald Trump and Roy Moore continued, and only time will tell how the scandal plays out moving forward.