Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore on Sunday defiantly denied ever dating underage girls and hit back at claims he had molested children amid a series of accusations revealed in the lead-up to the state’s special election.
“I did not date underage women. I did not molest anyone and so, these allegations are false,” Moore told “The Voice of Alabama Politics” during an interview aired Sunday.
Moore has been accused of making inappropriate sexual advances toward girls in their teens when he was in his 30s, but has vehemently defended himself against any wrongdoing.
“When I saw these pictures on the advertisements of my opponent, I didn’t recognize any of those women. I did not know them,” Moore reiterated to the show’s host, Bill Britt, referring to ads placed by Democratic challenger Doug Jones.
Moore specifically dismissed claims he knew accusers like Beverly Young Nelson, who produced a high school yearbook signed by the former judge as evidence they were acquainted when Nelson alleges Moore sexually assaulted her in a car behind a restaurant she used to work at in the late 1970s when she was 16.
“I have written cards, graduation cards,” he said. “I have known families. I know a lot of people throughout my life, but these allegations are completely false.”
Moore attributed the accusations to “a simple political tactic” from his detractors to “degrade” him in the eyes of the Alabama voters.
“They know I stood for moral values, so they’re attacking me in that area, and I understand that,” Moore said.
The election to decide who replaces Attorney General Jeff Sessions in the Senate is set for Dec. 12.
