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Controversial Colorado evangelist Gordon Klingenschmitt goes to bat for Roy Moore

The former state lawmaker said Moore defended him a decade ago when he fought with Navy over religious observances

DENVER, CO - JUNE 16: Denver Post's Washington bureau reporter Mark Matthews on Monday, June 16, 2014.  (Denver Post Photo by Cyrus McCrimmon)
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After , former Colorado lawmaker has reappeared on the political stage — this time in Alabama in support of fellow , a candidate for U.S. Senate who faces numerous accusations of sexual misconduct, including the molestation of a 14-year-old girl when Moore was 32.

Gordon Klingenschmitt
Gordon Klingenschmitt

, Klingenschmitt — an evangelical activist whose rhetoric was often criticized by fellow Colorado Republicans — joined Moore on Thursday at a news appearance with other religious figures. Klingenschmitt described Moore as someone “who does not lie,” and he questioned the honesty of his accusers — while admitting “I don’t know these ladies.”

His defense of Moore follows a bond Klingenschmitt said goes back a decade.

He said Moore supported him when he was a Navy chaplain at odds with the Pentagon over his insistence of referring to Jesus in official services; he later for disobeying orders by wearing his uniform to a White House protest.

“When I was faced in a Navy courtroom with a misdemeanor crime of worshipping in public, Judge Roy Moore and his attorneys flew to that Virginia Beach courtroom and stood with me and helped defend my honor,” Klingenschmitt said.

In a later interview with The Denver Post, Klingenschmitt said he arrived in Alabama on Wednesday to support Moore and plans to be in the state through Friday night.

He said he was with Moore’s wife, Kayla, in Montgomery for another event Friday and while in Alabama he said he has found “overwhelmingly support for Roy Moore” for Senate ahead of the Dec. 12 election.

Klingenschmitt last year to join the Colorado state Senate.

The loss followed a during which he said U.S. support of abortion and a “” led to an attack on a pregnant woman .

He also has compared former President Barack Obama to a and said that allowing gay Boy Scout leaders .

Klingenschmitt’s defense of Moore contrasts with that of U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner, another Colorado Republican. Gardner, as chair the National Republican Senatorial Committee, has said the Senate if he wins the election.

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