Donald Trump backs Roy Moore amid sexual assault allegations

US president Donald Trump has given his backing to Roy Moore, the Republican Senate candidate in Alabama facing allegations of sexual assault, in a Yuletide-themed rally just over the state line in Florida.

Speaking before green and red signs saying “Merry Christmas, Make America Great Again”, Mr Trump gave an ardent endorsement of Mr Moore and cast doubt on the claims of one of the women who has accused Mr Moore of sexually assaulting her as a teenager.

Mr Trump joined the Moore campaign in attacking the credibility of one accuser, Beverly Young Nelson, who said Friday she added an inscription to a high school yearbook signed by the Alabama Republican. “Did you see what happened today? You know, the yearbook? Did you see that? There was a little mistake made,” said Mr Trump. “She started writing things in the yearbook.”

He went on to doubt the credibility of her lawyer, Gloria Allred. “Any time you see her you know something’s gone wrong.”

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Ms Nelson had used the yearbook as evidence to back her claims Mr Moore sexually assaulted her when she was a 16-year-old waitress, in 1977.

Mr Trump also criticised Mr Moore’s opponent, Democrat Doug Jones, as a “liberal democrat” and a “total puppet” before closing his pitch by saying “We want jobs, jobs, jobs, so get out and vote for Roy Moore.”

The president has initially been cautious in his embrace of the controversial candidate, who was twice removed from office as Alabama’s chief justice for defying federal courts and has frequently made remarks considered homophobic. Most recently, Mr Moore blamed the allegations against him on a conspiracy that includes “lesbians, gays, bisexuals and socialists”.

Conservative firebrand

However, Mr Trump has supported Mr Moore on Twitter in recent days. He said Friday morning “LAST thing the Make America Great Again Agenda needs is a Liberal Democrat in Senate where we have so little margin for victory already. The Pelosi/Schumer Puppet Jones would vote against us 100 per cent of the time. He’s bad on Crime, Life, Border, Vets, Guns & Military. VOTE ROY MOORE!”

The tweet marked the culmination of an evolution where Mr Trump, who backed Mr Moore’s opponent Luther Strange in the primary, had initially been hesitant to tie himself to the conservative firebrand after the initial allegations against him. However, Mr Trump has become more positive about Mr Moore in recent years.

Steve Bannon backed Mr Strange too but the former top White House aide has long supported Moore and will appear on his behalf at an election eve rally in South Alabama.

In addition to touting Mr Moore, Mr Trump also hit a variety of familiar themes. He dwelt heavily on his electoral victory as well as repeated attacks on “fake news”. In particular, he singled out a reporting error made by ABC News over the prosecution of Mike Flynn and suggested attendees sue for stock market losses that resulted.

Mr Trump also warned about “very bad, evil people” who were trying to sabotage his effort to “drain the swamp”. He said the system was “corrupt” and “rigged” but insisted they were being stopped.

But the crowd, which cheered particularly for Mr Trump’s statement “we believe that every American should have to stand for the national anthem”, seemed unfazed by the dark forces menacing. They embraced Mr Trump’s belief “our revolution didn’t end on November 8, it’s just beginning”, that America was once again on its road to being great again and his wishes for a merry Christmas.

They cheered Mr Trump as he left the stage to artificial snow being blasted down from rafters on to the crowd. –Guardian