President Trump will not campaign for Roy Moore, the Republican candidate for Senate in the Alabama special election that will decide who sits in the Senate seat left empty by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Trump had left the door open to a campaign event for Moore last week just before departing Washington for Thanksgiving weekend. Although he stopped short of endorsing the embattled GOP candidate, the president expressed his belief on Tuesday that Moore had told the truth when he denied the accusations of the eight women who said he pursued inappropriate relationships with them when they were teenagers.
Many Republican elected officials rescinded their endorsements of Moore in the aftermath of the allegations, and GOP organizations pulled their material support for the former state supreme court judge. Moore’s poll numbers have fallen since the scandal surfaced earlier this month.
A White House official told the Associated Press and Reuters on Monday that Trump has no plans to campaign on Moore’s behalf before the Dec. 12 special election.
However, Trump said last week that he does not want to see Doug Jones, the Democratic candidate in the race, prevail over Moore next month. Trump labeled Jones a “liberal” and echoed the White House aides who have cautioned that a Jones victory could imperial tax reform by depriving Republicans of a badly-needed vote in the Senate.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
