Ivanka Trump says 'there is a special place in hell' for child abusers after her father refuses to answer Roy Moore questions
Ivanka Trump has spoken out against Senate candidate Roy Moore, saying that “there is a special place in hell for people who prey on children”.
Ms Trump’s comments came days after sexual misconduct allegations against Mr Moore first surfaced. Four women told the Washington Post last week that the Senate candidate had pursued them when they were teenagers and he was in his thirties. Others have accused him of unwanted sexual contact.
Mr Moore has denied the allegations, saying he has "not been guilty of sexual misconduct with anyone." President Donald Trump has yet to comment on them, despite repeated questions from the press.
Ms Trump, however, was resolute in her interview with the Associated Press.
"I've yet to see a valid explanation and I have no reason to doubt the victims' accounts," the first daughter and presidential adviser said.
More than a dozen Senate Republicans have urged Mr Moore to drop out of the Senate race in Alabama in the wake of the allegations. The Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee has suggested he be expelled from the Senate if he wins. The Republican National Committee has reportedly cut off funding to his campaign.
But in Alabama, Mr Moore still appears to be clinging to support. The latest polls show Mr Moore leading his Democratic opponent by an average of two points, and local community leaders are speaking out on his behalf.
One local pastor called the Republican Party a “bunch of sissies” for asking Mr Moore to step aside.
"I don't desert my friends just on mere accusations, I require evidence," said Pastor David Gonnella of the Magnolia Springs Baptist Church in Theodore, Alabama. He told Fox News 10 that the allegations were “perhaps satanically motivated,” and questioned why the accusers took decades to come forward.
State Representative Ed Henry had similar concerns. He believes legal action should be taken against the accusers for their years of silence.
“If they believe this man is predatory, they are guilty of allowing him to exist for 40 years,” he told the Cullman Times. “I think someone should prosecute and go after them. You can’t be a victim 40 years later, in my opinion.”
Mr Moore, meanwhile, has pledged to stay in the race, despite the chorus of Republicans asking him to drop out. At a press conference on Wednesday, his attorney attempted to discredit one of his accusers, asking her to turn over a high school yearbook she said Mr Moore had signed for forensic analysis.
Minutes later, a sixth woman came forward, claiming the former judge had grabbed her rear end during a child custody case in 1991.
"This is not a politics thing with me," accuser Tina Johnson told AL.com of her decision to come forward. "It's more of a moral and religious thing.”
