GOP lawmaker: Roy Moore should drop out unless he can prove his innocence

Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) on Friday said Republican Alabama Senate nominee Roy Moore should drop out of the special election race unless he is able to prove his innocence in the face of bombshell sexual misconduct allegations. 

“I would say unless he can prove his innocence, the burden is now on him within the next day or so, I believe he has to step down. He owes it to himself, he owes it to the state and and he owes it to the U.S. Senate,” King said on MSNBC. 

His comments come one day after The Washington Post published a story with several women saying Moore initiated sexual relationships when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s. The youngest of Moore’s accusers was 14 at the time.

The former state Supreme Court chief justice has vehemently denied the allegations, and soon after the Post story went online shot an email to supporters calling for donations to help fight them, a move to which King objected.

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“When you have this type of corroboration, it’s a burden on him and the fact he’s sending out fundraising appeals based on this to me is really, really bad form,” King said. 

A slew of Senate Republicans, as well as the White House, have said Moore should step down if the allegations are true.

Some GOP leaders, including Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and former presidential nominee Mitt Romney have called for him to bow out immediately.

Moore called the accusations “a desperate political attack by the National Democrat Party and the Washington Post.”