President Trump was reportedly annoyed at his daughter and White House aide, Ivanka Trump, for speaking out against Alabama candidate Roy Moore in response to mounting sexual misconduct allegations.
Last week the eldest Trump daughter told the Associated Press: “There’s a special place in hell for people who prey on children. I’ve yet to see a valid explanation and I have no reason to doubt the victims’ accounts.”
According to three White House staffers that spoke to the New York Times, when the president saw his daughter’s comments he was in disbelief, asking his staffers “Do you believe this?”
Moore has been accused by multiple women of making unwanted sexual advances on them when they were in their teens and he was in his 30s. Moore denies these accusations and has resisted pressure to drop out of the race for Alabama’s vacant U.S Senate.
Initially silent on the controversy, the president offered a de facto endorsement of Moore last week, saying about his Democratic rival Doug Jones: “We don’t need a liberal person in there, a Democrat.” About the allegations against Moore, he added: “Forty years is a long time. He’s run eight races, and this has never come up.”
Ivanka Trump’s comments about Moore became a campaign ad for Jones.
