WASHINGTON — U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado was one of several Republicans on Thursday to demand that Roy Moore end his campaign to become Alabama’s next GOP senator if prove true.
The response from Gardner, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other GOP lawmakers follow a by The Washington Post that detailed Moore’s molestation of a young girl when he was 32 and she was 14.
Moore denied the accusations in that same story.
Said Gardner in a statement: “The allegations against Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore are deeply troubling. If these allegations are found to be true, Roy Moore must drop out of the Alabama special Senate election.”
Moore is running as a Republican in Alabama’s upcoming Dec. 12 special election to fill the seat once held by now U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
To get there, Moore — with the support of former White House adviser Steve Bannon — in a Republican primary.
Gardner and the fundraising committee that he chairs — — backed Strange in that race but after Moore’s victory Gardner said he would and that he was “imperative to passing a conservative agenda.”
Moore was a controversial figure even before the latest allegations became public.
He once wrote that a Muslim lawmaker shouldn’t be allowed to serve in Congress because of his religion and, in an separate interview, said that “homosexual conduct” should be outlawed.