Rep. Pete KingPeter (Pete) KingOn The Money: 3 million more Americans file for unemployment benefits | Sanders calls for Senate to ‘improve’ House Democrats’ coronavirus bill | Less than 40 percent of small businesses have received emergency coronavirus loans GOP Rep. Pete King to buck party, vote for Democrats’ coronavirus relief bill Bipartisan lawmakers call for Postal Service relief MORE (R-N.Y.) on Friday said Republican Alabama Senate nominee Roy Moore should drop out of the special election race unless he is able to prove his innocence in the face of bombshell sexual misconduct allegations.
“I would say unless he can prove his innocence, the burden is now on him within the next day or so, I believe he has to step down. He owes it to himself, he owes it to the state and and he owes it to the U.S. Senate,” King said on MSNBC.
His comments come one day after The Washington Post published a story with several women saying Moore initiated sexual relationships when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s. The youngest of Moore’s accusers was 14 at the time.
The former state Supreme Court chief justice has vehemently denied the allegations, and soon after the Post story went online shot an email to supporters calling for donations to help fight them, a move to which King objected.
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“When you have this type of corroboration, it’s a burden on him and the fact he’s sending out fundraising appeals based on this to me is really, really bad form,” King said.
A slew of Senate Republicans, as well as the White House, have said Moore should step down if the allegations are true.
Some GOP leaders, including Sen. John McCainJohn Sidney McCainThe Hill’s Campaign Report: Bad polling data is piling up for Trump Cindy McCain ‘disappointed’ McGrath used image of John McCain in ad attacking McConnell Report that Bush won’t support Trump reelection ‘completely made up,’ spokesman says MORE (Ariz.) and former presidential nominee Mitt Romney have called for him to bow out immediately.
Moore called the accusations “a desperate political attack by the National Democrat Party and the Washington Post.”
“The forces of evil are on the march in our country … I have a duty to stand up and fight back against the forces of evil waging an all-out war on our conservative values,” Moore wrote in an email on Thursday.
Moore defeated sitting Sen. Luther StrangeLuther Johnson StrangeThe biggest political upsets of the decade State ‘certificate of need’ laws need to go GOP frets over nightmare scenario for Senate primaries MORE in the GOP primary for the special election to replace Attorney General Jeff SessionsJefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsMcCabe, Rosenstein spar over Russia probe Rosenstein takes fire from Republicans in heated testimony Rosenstein defends Mueller appointment, role on surveillance warrants MORE as Alabama’s junior senator. He is set to face Democrat Doug Jones on Dec. 12.
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