Doug Jones came away victorious in Alabama’s special Senate election last week, becoming the state’s first Democratic senator in 25 years and defeating controversial Republican candidate Roy Moore, who still refuses to concede the race during which he faced multiple sexual abuse allegations. CNN reports that Jones has announced that, despite his former opponent’s reluctance to admit defeat, he’s ready to move on from the close election and, additionally, that President Donald Trump shouldn’t leave office over the multiple sexual misconduct allegations against him.
Addressing the accusations made against the president, Jones said on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday, “Those allegations were made before the [2016 presidential] election, and so people had an opportunity to judge before that election. We need to move on and not get distracted by those issues. Let’s get on with the real issues that are facing the people of this country right now.”
Doug Jones, who beat an alleged child molester in Alabama’s Senate race, said the country needs to “move on” from sexual harassment allegations against Trump. pic.twitter.com/VIiZjMGXaJ
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) December 17, 2017
The news understandably caused a buzz from political commentators, as Jones defeated Moore, who has an alleged history of performing acts of sexual misconduct toward teenage girls. Jones’s comments about Trump, along with the remark that he could potentially side with Republicans on certain issues, stirred up concern from those who supported Jones in the Senate race.
Remember when centrists were gloating about Doug Jones winning the primary over the progressive?
It’s been 5 days since the election. He’s already pivoting to vote with the GOP, and calling on the country to move beyond the accusations of sexual assault against the POTUS…
— Walker Bragman (@WalkerBragman) December 17, 2017
NO.
You don’t get to beat an alleged sexual predator only to dismiss equally egregious allegations against the president for your own political expedience.
This IS a real issue facing the country, @GDouglasJones https://t.co/bDUNhYdiWW
— Purplefireweed (@Purplefireweed) December 17, 2017
Doug Jones sounds like a Republican senator when asked about Trump allegations pic.twitter.com/DWtnlbh8MR
— Igor Bobic (@igorbobic) December 17, 2017
When it comes to Moore refusing to concede, Jones also said that he “ready to go regardless of whether [Moore] concedes or not.” “I say it’s time to move on,” he said on the program. “Alabama has spoken. It was a close election, there is no question about that. But, you know, elections can be close sometimes. But now it’s time to heal.”
Jones’s comments follow the Wednesday release of a video in which Moore claimed that his team is still waiting for ballots to be verified. “In this race, we have not received the final count to include military and provisional ballots,” he said. “This has been a very close race and we are awaiting certification by the Secretary of State.”
Notably, said Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill revealed that Jones actually losing the election is “highly unlikely.”