The sexual abuse accusations swirling around Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore have now come from a total 8 women, but that apparently still isn’t alarming enough to warrant a public response of opposition against Moore from Donald Trump.
During a recent appearance on ABC’s This Week, White House Legislative Affairs Director Marc Short found himself in the hot seat as host George Stephanopoulos asked him to clarify whether or not Trump has officially decided to withdraw his support for Moore in light of the allegations. According to Think Progress, Short evaded the question repeatedly, even stopping short of providing a direct answer to an inquiry about whether or not Trump actually believes the women’s stories.
“Obviously, George, if he did not believe the women’s accusations were credible, he would be down campaigning for Roy Moore,” Short replied. “He has not done that. He has concerns about the accusations.”
But Short’s his response implying that Trump may indeed be leaning more toward siding with the women than not (as if that should be applauded), his additional comments in response to the question made it clear that he’s still taking an apologist approach to addressing the accusations.
“He’s also concerned that these accusations are 38 years old, Roy Moore has been in public service for decades, and the accusations did not arise until a month before the election,” Short added. “So we’re concerned about several aspects of the story; we’re very concerned about the allegations, but at this point, as I’ve said, we think it’s best for the people of Alabama to make the decision for them.”
Prior to the allegations against Moore coming to light, Trump was strong public supporter of his Senate candidacy and didn’t hesitate to endorse him following his Republican primary win.
Continuing to avoid giving any direct answers, Short also dodged the question of whether or not it would be right if the people of Alabama still elected Moore despite the sexual misconduct accusations. “I think that the right decision will be what the people of Alabama decide,” he said.