A woman has come forward accusing Roy Moore, who is currently running for U.S. Senate in Alabama, of attempting to have sex with her when she was only 14, The Washington Post reports.
It seems like the news is flooded with devastating stories of men and women being sexually assaulted or harassed by men who abused their power, with the latest coming for the Trump administration-endorsed Senate candidate looking to take Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ former seat.
Leigh Corfman recounted her own experience with Moore when she was only a child, according to the Washington Post. When Moore was an assistant district attorney, he had offered to look after Corfman while he mother attended a custody hearing. However, Corfman said that he wasn’t just babysitting her.
Republicans have few options to replace alleged sexual predator Roy Moore as Senate candidate https://t.co/ggU9inaoGZ pic.twitter.com/MrehCyB0JG
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) November 9, 2017
After, Corfman claims that Moore drove her approximately 30 minutes to his isolated house in the woods and kissed her — again, when she was only 14 and he was 32. During a second incident with Moore, she said he groped her over her bra and underwear.
As if this encounter wasn’t disturbing enough, she said that Moore also placed her hand over his own underwear. Corfman was able to ask him to take her home before Moore could instigate anymore lewd conduct. Regardless, it’s clear that Corfman never forgot this incident with Moore (because survivors rarely ever get the luxury to forget) from her childhood.
Corfman explains to The Washington Post that she remembers thinking, “Please just get this over with. What this is, just get it over.”
(Which is obviously heartbreaking to realize that she was already expecting much worse than the sexual acts she claims Moore did commit.)
But Corfman isn’t the only person to share her story with The Post. Three other anonymous women have also come forward to reveal similar stories. WFTV9 ABC reports that these other women were between the ages of 16 and 18 when they said Moore attempted to assault them.
This isn’t the first controversy that Moore has faced. Earlier this year, Moore claimed that the United States “asked for shootings” because the country doesn’t “acknowledge God enough.”
However, that still isn’t the most offensive statement to leave Moore’s lips. He also previously, as CNN reports, told the press in 2003 that “homosexual conduct should be illegal.” This makes his accused crime even more disturbing, seeing as, unlike sexual orientation, pedophilia is actually a crime.
Following the reports, several Republican politicians who had previously endorsed Moore gave statements that he should step down and drop out of the race “if [the allegations are] true.”
The allegations against Roy Moore are deeply disturbing and disqualifying. He should immediately step aside and allow the people of Alabama to elect a candidate they can be proud of.
— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) November 9, 2017
Sen. John McCain, of Arizona, however, said in a statement that the allegations were “deeply disturbing and disqualifying,” adding that Mooore “should immediately step aside and allow the people of Alabama to elect a candidate they can be proud of.”
The Washington Post adds that Moore denied these claims, saying that “These allegations are completely false and are a desperate political attack by the National Democrat Party and the Washington Post on this campaign.”