Two GOP senators said Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore should not be a member of Congress amid allegations that he sexually harassed teenage girls when he was in his 30s.
“The allegations are stronger than the denial, and Roy Moore should find something else to do. I think that there’s a strong possibility with a new Republican candidate, a proven conservative, that we can win that race in Alabama,” Sen. Tim Scott, a Republican from South Carolina, said on “Fox News Sunday Morning.”
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said she finds the sexual misconduct claims against Moore “credible.”
“I read his explanation. I listened to his radio interview. I did not find his denials to be convincing at all,” Collins said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “So, from my perspective, there are credible allegations against him.”
She said Moore should not serve in the Senate.
“I hope he does not end up in the US Senate,” Collins said.
Top Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have called for Moore to drop out of the Dec. 12 race after nine women have come forward to claim he sexually harassed, groped or assaulted them in the 1970s when he was an assistant district attorney.
Moore has denied the allegations and said they are an attempt by establishment Republicans to “steal” the election from him.
But Scott said the controversy isn’t about politics, it’s about “respecting women, period.”
“Our response to sexual harassment should be as aggressive as possible. The reality of it is, when you look at those conservative lawmakers in the Senate who have withdrawn their support of Judge Moore, that should send a clear signal that this has nothing to do with establishment Republicans or politics,” Scott said . “This has to do with the character that we want displayed in the United States of America, and especially in our leadership realm.”
Moore is running in a special election against Democrat Doug Jones to fill a Senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions after he became US attorney general.