President Donald Trump attacked one of the women who has accused Senate hopeful Roy Moore of sexually assaulting her when she was a teenager and he was in his 30s, mocking her over the scrutiny a note she made under Moore’s alleged signature in her high school yearbook has received.
Speaking at a rally in Pensacola, Florida, on Friday, just days ahead of the Alabama special election to fill the state’s open Senate seat, Trump brought up Young’s annotation and criticized her attorney, Gloria Allred.
“So did you see what happened today? You know, the yearbook? Did you see that? There was a little mistake made. She started writing things in the yearbook,” he said at the rally, which was held about 20 miles from the Alabama border. “Gloria Allred, anytime you see her you know something’s going wrong.”
Beverly Nelson Young came forward with allegations about the Alabama Republican last month and shared a photograph of an inscription Moore left in her yearbook when she was 16 years old. Moore’s attorneys have denied that the signature is his and have demanded access to the yearbook so they can have handwriting experts analyze the note.
In an interview airing Friday on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Young said that she added the date and location that appear below the inscription to remind herself of where and when he signed the yearbook. In a news conference several hours later, Allred said a handwriting analyst had determined the signature did match Moore’s handwriting in public documents.
Conservative news outlets, including Breitbart News, immediately seized on the issue of Young’s notes, arguing they discredited her claims. And in a news conference Friday afternoon, Moore’s team accused Allred and Young of changing their story and again asked for an “independent expert” to analyze the signature.
Young is one of at least nine women who have said Moore pursued sexual relationships with them when they were in their teens. The Republican candidate has denied the allegations.
Trump threw his full support behind Moore on Monday, after weeks of dodging questions about the allegations. He’s also repeatedly attacked Moore’s Democratic rival, Doug Jones.
“We cannot afford, this country, the future of this country, cannot afford to lose a seat in the very, very close United States Senate. We can’t afford it, folks,” Trump said Friday night. “We can’t afford to have a liberal Democrat who is completely controlled by Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.”
“His name is Jones, and he is their total puppet and everybody knows it,” he continued. “We need somebody in that Senate seat who will vote for our ‘Make America great again’ agenda.”
“Get out and vote for Roy Moore!” Trump told the crowd.
The special election for the open Senate seat, previously occupied by now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, is Tuesday.