President Donald Trump, said White House aide Kellyanne Conway on Sunday, “is not as focused on this as he is his major 13-day trip abroad.” The “this” is the question of Roy Moore and his political future after the Washington Post’s bombshell report last week that included, among other allegations, that Moore molested a 14-year-old girl when he was 32. A source at the White House told me on Friday that Moore had a right to defend himself and that I should listen to his radio interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity.
In his Hannity interview and a subsequent public statement, Moore denied the charge that he molested the 14-year-old, while admitting the broad thrust of the rest of the Post’s story—that as a 30-something, he dated teenaged women, the others of which were above the legal age of consent. He has also said he will not leave the race and has called the Post report a political attack, insinuating that national Democrats and establishment Republicans are behind it.
Republicans in Washington and elsewhere are calling on Moore to step down from the race, despite missing the deadline to do so before the December 12 election. His possible future Republican colleagues in the Senate are saying, or suggesting, that the accusations sound more credible than Moore’s denial. The National Republican Senatorial Committee, which had endorsed Moore’s primary opponent Luther Strange, has pulled its funding.
The White House, without President Trump in town, has continued to be much more cautious. “The conduct as described should disqualify anyone from serving in public office,” Conway said on ABC’s This Week. “And Mr. Moore has denied that conduct. I think you’ve got other people are out there talking about what did or did not happen many years ago. . . . I don’t know the accusers. And I don’t know Judge Moore. But I also want to make sure that we as a nation are not always prosecuting people through the press.”
Appearing on Meet the Press, White House legislative affairs director Marc Short was also careful not to go too far, bringing up Moore’s war service in Vietnam and his judicial service in Alabama (for which—Short did not note—Moore was removed from office twice). On the other hand, “I think that there’s a special place in hell for those who actually perpetrate these crimes, and I think Roy Moore has to do more explaining than he has done so far,” Short said. Throughout the interview, he reminded viewers that Trump had endorsed Strange, not Moore, in the primary. Then Short said this: “It’s important for the people of Alabama to be allowed the chance to discern the truth here and make the right decision.”
This reflects a view among many around Trump: that it’s to his and the party’s political benefit for the president to stay out of it for a few more days. In that time, more credible accusers could surface; Moore could reverse course and drop out; the story could peter out and voters could move on; Moore could, as Short suggested on Meet the Press, provide evidence that exonerates him.
The White House is certainly acting as though letting any of those scenarios play out would be preferable to any public comment from Trump himself. So far, while in Asia, he’s stuck to the line that he’s been too focused on his foreign trip to pay much attention to the Moore story. He even told reporters he would “stick to the statement” his press secretary issued, which called on Moore to step aside if the allegations are true. “I’m dealing with the president of China, the president of Russia,” Trump told reporters Saturday in the Philippines. “I’m dealing with the folks over here. So I haven’t devoted, I haven’t been able to devote very much time to it.”
Unfortunately for those around him hoping he will remain on the sidelines, the president will return to Washington this week. What his reaction will be, and what effect it will have on the race, remains to be seen.
Worth Considering—It’s hard to know where the race stands between Moore and his Democratic opponent, Doug Jones. Even before the Washington Post story ran, the race was closer than it might otherwise be in a deep red state like Alabama. The RealClear Politics average of polls right now shows Moore has just a 2-point lead over Jones.
But if Moore wins, there’s a possibility the Republican-controlled Senate could investigate the molestation charges. Here’s my colleague John McCormack on how such an investigation would operate:
Read the whole thing here.
Photo of the Day
Donald Trump and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte join hands for the family photo during the 31st Association of South East Asian Nations Summit in Manila on November 13, 2017. (JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)
President Trump is wrapping up his nation-hopping trip to Asia, and plans to return to Washington Tuesday after completing a final state visit in the Philippines. After preaching a stark message of economic nationalism to Pacific Rim leaders in Vietnam last Friday, Trump spent the weekend with Vietnamese leaders, holding meetings with both President Tran Dai Quang and Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.
The White House can claim a small victory in the aftermath of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit. As Reuters reported, the joint statement issued by the 21 APEC countries strongly echoed in places some of the talking points Trump has repeatedly made in speeches through his Asia tour.
“We will work together to make trade more inclusive, support improved market access opportunities, and address unfair trade practices,” the statement read. “We urgently call for the removal of market-distorting subsidies and other types of support by governments and related entities.”
The president told reporters Monday in Manila that he would announce the results of his trade discussions with leaders in the region at the White House Wednesday.
But Trump’s trade efforts were overshadowed by comments he made during a press gaggle Saturday, where he veered far off-script to defend Russian president Vladimir Putin against the charge that Russia had intervened last year to help Trump win the presidency, which he described as “this artificial Democratic hit job.”
“He said he didn’t meddle. He said he didn’t meddle. I asked him again. You can only ask so many times,” Trump told reporters. “And I believe, I really believe, that when he tells me that, he means it.”
“I think he’s very insulted by it, which is not a good thing for our country,” Trump added. “Because again, if we had a relationship with Russia, North Korea—which is our single biggest problem right now—North Korea, it would have helped a lot.”
Arizona senator John McCain released a statement condemning Trump’s comments.
“There’s nothing ‘America First’ about taking the word of a KGB colonel over that of the American intelligence community,” McCain said. “Vladimir Putin does not have America’s interests at heart. To believe otherwise is not only naïve but also places our national security at risk.”
Trump partially walked his comments back the following day in his press conference with Quang.
“What I said there is that I believe he believes that, and that’s very important for somebody to believe. I believe that he feels that he and Russia did not meddle in the election,” Trump said. “As to whether I believe it or not, I’m with our agencies, especially as currently constituted with their leadership. I believe in our intel agencies, our intelligence agencies.”
2020 Watch—Joe Biden says he’d consider running for president again if “no one steps up.” That’s according to an interview the former vice president did with Snapchat’s “Good Luck America.” But Biden also said he wasn’t sure it was “the appropriate thing to do” and said right now he’s “not doing anything to run.” Not doing anything, except an interview with the news division of a social media app used primarily by young people.
College Football Watch—The University of Georgia-Auburn University game is called the Deep South’s Oldest Rivalry, and it’s one of the best in college football. (Watch this 2002 game-winning grab for the Bulldogs or the famous 2007 “blackout” game between the two ranked squads.)
On Saturday, the top-ranked Georgia team was no match for Auburn’s explosive offense. The Tigers beat the Dawgs 40 to 17 to give UGA its first loss of the season.
Song of the Day—“Drive” by R.E.M.
