By Adryana Aldeen Senior Correspondent
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas For the last several weeks Judge Roy Moore from Alabama has been in the news with a number of accusations that would be troubling if they are true. Then a fifth victim
Beverly Nelson gave a press conference in New York at which she said that she originally met
Moore when he was a 30-year-old deputy district attorney in Etowah County and would regularly eat at a restaurant in Gadsden called Olde Hickory House.
Beverly Nelson claims that Moore used to compliment her on her looks. and that he signed her yearbook in 1977 sometime just before Christmas. About a week or two later she says that Moore offered her a ride home.
I trusted Mr. Moore because he was the district attorney" she said at the news conference. I thought that he was simply doing something nice."
Nelson claims that Moore drove her to the back of the restaurant where he proceeded to grope her breasts pull the area in the back of her neck and try to force her toward his crotch.
I thought that he was going to rape me" she said. I was twisting and I was struggling and I was begging him to stop."
Eventually Nelson says that Moore let her out of the car and told her that no one will ever believe you" if she ever mentioned their encounter to others.
This woman was pretty convincing. Regardless that this case will never go into a court the people of the United States are voicing their opinions on both sides.
Although it seemed that Sean Hannity of Fox News was taking the side of defending Judge Moore for the first days then it took the testimony of Beverly Nelson for Hannity to invite Judge Jeanine Pirro and hear her opinion on Tuesday November 14th.
Alberto Mohler President of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary said "Roy Moores answers are too elastic." He agrees with me that is not the Accusations per se but just simply his answers.
On Wednesday night Sean Hannity closed his Fox News show by addressing the Moore allegations and specifically responded to the open letter than Moore sent to him via social media about two hours
before the show.
Hannity noted that Moore gave three different answers to him when asked if he dated teenage girls while he was in his 30s. Moore first told Hannity that he did not generally" date teenage girls. He then said that he didnt remember dating any girl without the permission of her mother." Moore finally denied he ever dated someone in their late teens.
These answers were inconsistent" Hannity said.
Hannity said that Moore provided answers to the specific questions he asked on Tuesday night and offered to give the former Alabama Chief Justice 24 hours to provide an explanation.
The Alabama GOP decided to support Moore while the Greater Birmingham Young Republicans voted Thursday
to pull its endorsement and censure the U.S. Senate candidate at its monthly meeting saying it believes in the concept of innocent until proven guilty but not electability until proven guilty.
Heres the dilemma the Alabama Republicans are facing
according to Alabama law Section 17-6-21. If they were to convince Moore to step down and reject the nomination they have to do so 76 days before the special election to remove him from the ballot. Otherwise his name remains on the ballot.
Currently the Alabama special election is scheduled to occur on December 12 2017 less than a month away and well within the 76-day statutory range. If Moore stepped down at this point the statute says that his name remains on the ballot and the appropriate canvassing board may not certify any votes for the candidate."
That means people could vote for Moore but their votes essentially wouldnt count.
What Republicans were likely thinking of when moving the election is two-fold:
- Move the election outside that 76-day window to find a way to force Moore off the ballot.
Allow time for the Moore allegations to die down in the event they failed at forcing Moore off the ballot.
The issue theyve encountered however is that early absentee ballots were sent out starting on October 15th for the December Election. Election officials have said that they have already received ballots back from the absentee process
meaning some people have already voted for Moore. Changing the ballots at this stage of the race would require extensive legal arguments that would in the end undoubtedly need input from the Alabama Supreme Court.
With people in Alabama already early voting
Gov. Ivey said she would not postpone the election. Theres simply nothing to gain by delaying the vote. Any ballot changes at this point would almost assuredly guarantee victory for the Democrat Doug Jones.
The most likely path Republicans will take is to allow Roy Moore to sink or swim on his own. Its the path of least resistance for Alabama Republicans and pushes any decisions off on the voting public. National Republicans would probably prefer more action from the state party if only because if Moore wins hell be their problem.
For weeks I have said
the ambiguous responses of the Judge were enough for me to ask him to step down regardless if he is guilty or not. Its unbelievable to see so many Republicans saying Gee it would be terrible if Roy Moore loses the Alabama Senate seat so he should get out as opposed to Gee its terrible what Roy Moore answered and its terrible to have him as a nominee of our party so he should get out.
Regardless of whether Roy Moore is elected or not he has already shown his true character in the
inconsistent manner of answering the questions.
Senior Correspondent Adryana Aldeen is frequently featured nationally statewide and locally on Univision Telemundo CNN Espaol FOX News ABC and other media outlets.
