White House Counselor Kellyanne Conway called the sexual assault allegation against Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore “disqualifying” if they’re true, but cautioned against prosecuting him through the press.
Conway said on ABC’s “This Week” President Trump has released his statement echoing other Republican leaders — if the accusations against Moore, including that he groped a 14-year-old girl while he was in his 30s, are true, he should step aside in his race — and that’s all he’ll say for now.
Conway wouldn’t answer when pressed if Trump and the White House will say they believe the women who accused Moore.
“I want to make sure we’re not prosecuting people through the press,” Conway said. “He’s denied the allegations. I have read the stories. I have heard not the testimony, the evidence, but what people are saying publicly.”
“And, I think that the — what we have all said stands. I came out very — probably the first person in the administration to come out because I happened to be interviewed on a different network about a different topic. I said this conduct should be disqualifying.”
Conway said, with the caveat that she finds the accusations against Moore — including that he dated teenage girls in his 30s and gave at least one alcohol when she was underage — “offensive and disgusting,” Moore should not be convicted in the press.
“It would be a dangerous conversation for any of us to just be cast aside as guilty because of press reports. This is a democracy with a constitutional system that allows us to have a process,” she said.
“So, we’re not in trial here. I only know what I read. What I read is very disturbing. What I read offends me greatly as a woman, as a mother of three young girls.”
