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Roy Moore should end Senate campaign, House Speaker Paul Ryan says

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., at a mock swearing-in ceremony in the U.S. Capitol on Monday, Nov. 14, 2016. Ryan swore in three new members of Congress, James Comer, R-Ky., Colleen Hanabusa, D-Hawaii, and Dwight Evans, D-Pa. (Bill Clark/Congressional Quarterly/Newscom/Zuma Press/TNS)

By Paul Gattis | Alabama Media Group, Birmingham
November 14, 2017

A day after the leader of the U.S. Senate said Roy Moore should suspend his campaign, the leader of the U.S. House of Representatives did the same.

House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, said in an interview on CNN on Tuesday morning that Moore should “step aside.”

On Monday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell also called on Moore to withdraw from the Senate race.

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The election against Democrat Doug Jones is Dec. 12.

Moore has come under fire since The Washington Post published accounts from four women — who gave their names and spoke on the record — describing their sexual or romantic encounters with the former Alabama chief justice when they were teenagers.

Moore was in his 30s at the time.

One accuser, Leigh Corfman, told The Post that when she was 14 years old, Moore befriended her and took her to a remote area and removed her clothing. He then touched her over her underwear and guided her hand to touch him over his underwear.

A fifth accuser came forward Monday. Beverly Young Nelson said at a New York press conference that Moore began groping her in his car after offering to give her a ride home from the restaurant where she worked. Nelson said she thought Moore was going to rape her.

Moore has denied the allegations.

“He should step aside,” Ryan told CNN. “Number one, these allegations are credible. Number two, if he cares about the values that he claims to care about, then he should step aside.”

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U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who vacated the seat Moore is seeking to joint President Trump’s cabinet, also said Tuesday that he had no reason not to believe Moore’s accusers.

Since the allegations were published by The Post last week, four of the five U.S. senators who endorsed Moore have withdrawn those endorsements. Rand Paul is the only senator who has not withdrawn his support.

The endorsements continue to be listed on Moore’s campaign website Tuesday morning even though they have been withdrawn.

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