White House adviser and President Donald Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, was quoted Wednesday as saying she believed the women accusing Roy Moore of pursuing relationships, including sexual ones, with them as teenagers.
“There’s a special place in hell for people who prey on children,” she told the Associated Press. “I’ve yet to see a valid explanation and I have no reason to doubt the victims’ accounts.”
The Washington Post reported last Thursday on four women who accused Moore, on the record, of pursuing relationships with them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s. One woman, Leigh Corfman, said Moore tried to initiate sexual contact with her when she was 14.
On Monday, Beverly Young Nelson accused Moore of attempting to rape her when she was 16 years old. At a press conference, she showed what appeared to be Moore’s signature in her high school yearbook. “Love, Roy Moore D.A.,” he apparently wrote. Moore later claimed not to know Nelson. Moore has denied the allegations against him.
The AP reported Wednesday that it had traveled with Trump on Monday as she promoted Republicans’ tax cut plan. It’s unclear if Trump’s comment came before or after Nelson’s accusation was made public.
The White House did not immediately return TPM’s request for comment on Wednesday, asked about both Ivanka and President Donald Trump’s positions on Moore.
Though a number of Republican lawmakers have called on Moore to step aside — including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the chairman of Republican senators’ campaign organization — neither Trump has yet.
