An attorney for Roy Moore failed to defend his client Wednesday from multiple allegations of past sexual misconduct printed in theWashington Post, and instead questioned the credibility of a separate accuser’s account and attacked her celebrity representation, Gloria Allred.
The attorney, Phillip Jauregui, called into question the memory of Beverly Young Nelson, who came forward Monday with her own accusation of sexual assault against Moore, which she said occurred when she was 16.
“During the press conference that Ms. Nelson and Gloria Allred had on Monday, they both said that Ms. Nelson, after the allegations, had never seen nor had any contact with Judge Moore,” Jauregui said. “As it turns out, in 1999, Ms. Nelson filed a divorce action against her then-husband. Guess who that case was before?” It was before Moore, said Jauregui.
He later cited an order Moore signed in that case to question the authenticity of a note Nelson said he left in her high school yearbook. It reads: “To a sweeter more beautiful girl I could not say ‘Merry Christmas.’ Christmas 1977. Love Roy Moore DA, 12-22-77 Old Hickory House.”
Jauregui claimed there were inconsistencies in how the sevens appeared on the page, said there was “no way” the “Old Hickory House” handwriting was Moore’s, and said Moore recalled seeing the “DA” appear after his signature only when his assistant, whose initials were DA, initialed a document stamped with his name.
He added that Moore attorney Trenton Garmon was sending a letter to Allred demanding the yearbook be released to a “neutral custodian” for review from the campaign’s handwriting expert.
Jauregui and campaign chairman Bill Armistead, who introduced Jauregui, left after eight minutes without taking questions. They did not address, much less attempt to dispute, the details of the account of Leigh Corfman, who told the Post Moore initiated an intimate sexual encounter with her when she was 14, or the three other women in the same report who said Moore pursued them when they were between 16 and 18. Their appearance solely focused on Nelson and Allred. They did not attempt to dispute any details of the former’s account.
