Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore faced criticism on Friday after soliciting donations based on reports he molested a 14-year-old girl.
In an email, he described the shocked reactions to the allegations as "an all-out war on our conservative values."
In a bombshell report by the Washington Post on Thursday, four women alleged that Moore pursued them when they were teenagers and he was an adult man. Leigh Corfman, who was 14 when she met Moore, then an assistant district attorney in Alabama, said he molested her.
Moore denied the allegations on Thursday before asking his supporters for donations. In his fundraising email, he called the allegations "the most vicious and nasty round of attacks against me that I've ever faced" at the hands of "the Obama-Clinton machine's liberal media lapdogs."
The former Alabama supreme court judge added that "the forces of evil are on the march in our country" and asked supporters, "Will you take a stand by chipping in a donation to let me know you've got my back in our all-out war against the Obama-Clinton machine?"
Meanwhile, right-wing media outlets and Republican politicians have jumped to Moore's defense amid the allegations, with Alabama state auditor Jim Zeigler comparing Moore's abuse of a minor to relationships portrayed in the Bible. "Take Joseph and Mary," Zeigler said. "Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus."
On his radio program, Fox News host Sean Hannity asserted that the "encounter" between Moore and Corfman was "consensual," before walking back the statement later and saying he was "not totally clear" in his remarks.
The age of consent in Alabama was and is still 16. A 14-year-old cannot legally consent to sexual activity, regardless of whether he or she participates in the activity willingly. In the state, sexual contact between an adult over the age of 19 with anyone between the ages of 12 and 16 is considered second degree sexual abuse.
On social media, journalists and Moore critics shared their shock at the Senate candidate's use of the allegations as a fundraising opportunity as well as the brazen defenses of Moore from the right.
