Alabama state lawmaker: ‘Roy Moore is the victim’

Alabama state Rep. Ed Henry (R) said Friday that he believes Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore is the “victim,” after Moore was accused of sexual misconduct in a Washington Post report this week.

“I think probably more often than not, the accuser is the victim,” Henry said during an appearance on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360.” “But I do believe occasionally the accused is the victim, and I do believe in this instance Roy Moore is the victim.”

“I believe that he is the victim of a political hack job,” Henry said.

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The Alabama lawmaker also alleged without providing evidence that someone had “paid for” the allegations against Moore.

In a bombshell report in The Washington Post on Thursday, Moore was accused of having sexual contact with a 14-year-old girl in 1979, when he was 32.

The newspaper also cited three other women who said that Moore had approached them around a similar time, when they were between the ages of 16 and 18.

Moore has denied the allegations, saying they are “completely false.”

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have condemned Moore after the allegations were revealed publicly, and two GOP senators who previously endorsed Moore withdrew their support on Friday.

Henry fired back at those senators, Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.), calling them “cowards” and saying they “shouldn’t have ever endorsed him to begin with.”

Henry had previously said that legal action should be taken against the women who levied the allegations against Moore.

“If they believe this man is predatory, they are guilty of allowing him to exist for 40 years,” Henry 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.”