Roy Moore Accused Of Sex Encounter With 14 Year-Old Girl When He Was 32, GOP Leaders React Swiftly

The Washington Post reports:

Leigh Corfman says she was 14 years old when an older man approached her outside a courtroom in Etowah County, Ala. She was sitting on a wooden bench with her mother, they both recall, when the man introduced himself as Roy Moore.

It was early 1979 and Moore — now the Republican nominee in Alabama for a U.S. Senate seat — was a 32-year-old assistant district attorney. He struck up a conversation, Corfman and her mother say, and offered to watch the girl while her mother went inside for a child custody hearing.

Alone with Corfman, Moore chatted with her and asked for her phone number, she says. Days later, she says, he picked her up around the corner from her house in Gadsden, drove her about 30 minutes to his home in the woods, told her how pretty she was and kissed her. On a second visit, she says, he took off her shirt and pants and removed his clothes. He touched her over her bra and underpants, she says, and guided her hand to touch him over his underwear.

Three other women make similar claims in the above-linked report. More from the Associated Press:

The Moore campaign called the report “the very definition of fake news and intentional defamation.” Senior Republicans swiftly called for Moore to step aside if the allegations are shown to be true.

“The allegations against Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore are deeply troubling,” said Colorado Sen. Chairman Cory Gardner, who leads the Senate GOP campaign arm.  “If these allegations are found to be true, Roy Moore must drop out of the Alabama special Senate election.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell added, “If these allegations are true, he must step aside.”