SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Roy Moore, GOP Senate candidate and former chief justice on the Alabama Supreme Court speaks during the annual Family Research Council's Values Voter Summit at the Omni Shorham Hotel on October 13, 2017 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
Breitbart Goes to Bat for Roy Moore Amid Accusations He Sexually Assaulted Teenage Girl
Breitbart's piece on the accusations more closely resembled a "press release" for Moore than a news story, argued one journalist
Nov 09, 2017
Minutes before the Washington Post on Thursday published a bombshell report detailing allegations by a woman who claims Republican Senate nominee Roy Moore sexually assaulted her when she was 14, the Steve Bannon-directed outlet Breitbart News ran a story that spotlighted Moore's denials of the claims against him and attempted to "undermine the Post's credibility."
"The story detailed some of the allegations, but with a distinct twist," notes Business Insider's Maxwell Tani. "Breitbart included five paragraphs of denials from Moore, which were placed above many of the details of the allegations."
Headlined "After Endorsing Democrat in Alabama, Bezos's Washington Post Plans to Hit Roy Moore with Allegations of Inappropriate Relations with Teenagers; Judge Claims Smear Campaign," Breitbart's piece more closely resembles a "press release" for Moore than a news story, argued the Washington Post's Aaron Blake.
David Uberti of Splinter News echoed Blake, calling the piece "transparently disgusting spin."
According to the Post's account of the allegations, Moore approached 14-year-old Leigh Corfman in 1979 when she was sitting outside of an Etowah County, Alabama courtroom with her mother in 1979. Moore offered to watch Corfman while her mother went inside the courtroom for a child custody hearing, and proceeded to ask her for her phone number.
Just days later, the Post reports, Moore
picked her up around the corner from her house in Gadsden, drove her about 30 minutes to his home in the woods, told her how pretty she was and kissed her. On a second visit, she says, he took off her shirt and pants and removed his clothes. He touched her over her bra and underpants, she says, and guided her hand to touch him over his underwear.
"I wanted it over with--I wanted out," she remembers thinking. "Please just get this over with. Whatever this is, just get it over." Corfman says she asked Moore to take her home, and he did.
Two of Corfman's childhood friends say she told them at the time that she was seeing an older man, and one says Corfman identified the man as Moore. Wells says her daughter told her about the encounter more than a decade later, as Moore was becoming more prominent as a local judge.
Three other women have also alleged that Moore pursued them when they were between the ages of 16 and 18, the Post reported. One of the women, Wendy Miller, said Moore first approached her when she was 14 and began asking her on dates when she was 16.
Lawmakers were quick to respond to the allegations, and many Republicans called on Moore to step down as the party's Senate nominee.
"If there is any truth at all to these horrific allegations, Roy Moore should immediately step aside as a Senate candidate," Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said in a statement.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called the allegations "deeply disturbing and disqualifying."
"He should immediately step aside and allow the people of Alabama to elect a candidate they are proud of," McCain wrote on Twitter.
Moore has been labeled a "bigot" and a "theocratic crackpot" for his record as an Alabama Supreme Court judge.
In 2003, Moore garnered national attention when he had a 5,280-pound monument of the 10 Commandments built inside Alabama's state judicial building. He has also suggested that Muslims should be barred from serving in Congress and that homosexuality should be outlawed.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Minutes before the Washington Post on Thursday published a bombshell report detailing allegations by a woman who claims Republican Senate nominee Roy Moore sexually assaulted her when she was 14, the Steve Bannon-directed outlet Breitbart News ran a story that spotlighted Moore's denials of the claims against him and attempted to "undermine the Post's credibility."
"The story detailed some of the allegations, but with a distinct twist," notes Business Insider's Maxwell Tani. "Breitbart included five paragraphs of denials from Moore, which were placed above many of the details of the allegations."
Headlined "After Endorsing Democrat in Alabama, Bezos's Washington Post Plans to Hit Roy Moore with Allegations of Inappropriate Relations with Teenagers; Judge Claims Smear Campaign," Breitbart's piece more closely resembles a "press release" for Moore than a news story, argued the Washington Post's Aaron Blake.
David Uberti of Splinter News echoed Blake, calling the piece "transparently disgusting spin."
According to the Post's account of the allegations, Moore approached 14-year-old Leigh Corfman in 1979 when she was sitting outside of an Etowah County, Alabama courtroom with her mother in 1979. Moore offered to watch Corfman while her mother went inside the courtroom for a child custody hearing, and proceeded to ask her for her phone number.
Just days later, the Post reports, Moore
picked her up around the corner from her house in Gadsden, drove her about 30 minutes to his home in the woods, told her how pretty she was and kissed her. On a second visit, she says, he took off her shirt and pants and removed his clothes. He touched her over her bra and underpants, she says, and guided her hand to touch him over his underwear.
"I wanted it over with--I wanted out," she remembers thinking. "Please just get this over with. Whatever this is, just get it over." Corfman says she asked Moore to take her home, and he did.
Two of Corfman's childhood friends say she told them at the time that she was seeing an older man, and one says Corfman identified the man as Moore. Wells says her daughter told her about the encounter more than a decade later, as Moore was becoming more prominent as a local judge.
Three other women have also alleged that Moore pursued them when they were between the ages of 16 and 18, the Post reported. One of the women, Wendy Miller, said Moore first approached her when she was 14 and began asking her on dates when she was 16.
Lawmakers were quick to respond to the allegations, and many Republicans called on Moore to step down as the party's Senate nominee.
"If there is any truth at all to these horrific allegations, Roy Moore should immediately step aside as a Senate candidate," Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said in a statement.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called the allegations "deeply disturbing and disqualifying."
"He should immediately step aside and allow the people of Alabama to elect a candidate they are proud of," McCain wrote on Twitter.
Moore has been labeled a "bigot" and a "theocratic crackpot" for his record as an Alabama Supreme Court judge.
In 2003, Moore garnered national attention when he had a 5,280-pound monument of the 10 Commandments built inside Alabama's state judicial building. He has also suggested that Muslims should be barred from serving in Congress and that homosexuality should be outlawed.
Minutes before the Washington Post on Thursday published a bombshell report detailing allegations by a woman who claims Republican Senate nominee Roy Moore sexually assaulted her when she was 14, the Steve Bannon-directed outlet Breitbart News ran a story that spotlighted Moore's denials of the claims against him and attempted to "undermine the Post's credibility."
"The story detailed some of the allegations, but with a distinct twist," notes Business Insider's Maxwell Tani. "Breitbart included five paragraphs of denials from Moore, which were placed above many of the details of the allegations."
Headlined "After Endorsing Democrat in Alabama, Bezos's Washington Post Plans to Hit Roy Moore with Allegations of Inappropriate Relations with Teenagers; Judge Claims Smear Campaign," Breitbart's piece more closely resembles a "press release" for Moore than a news story, argued the Washington Post's Aaron Blake.
David Uberti of Splinter News echoed Blake, calling the piece "transparently disgusting spin."
According to the Post's account of the allegations, Moore approached 14-year-old Leigh Corfman in 1979 when she was sitting outside of an Etowah County, Alabama courtroom with her mother in 1979. Moore offered to watch Corfman while her mother went inside the courtroom for a child custody hearing, and proceeded to ask her for her phone number.
Just days later, the Post reports, Moore
picked her up around the corner from her house in Gadsden, drove her about 30 minutes to his home in the woods, told her how pretty she was and kissed her. On a second visit, she says, he took off her shirt and pants and removed his clothes. He touched her over her bra and underpants, she says, and guided her hand to touch him over his underwear.
"I wanted it over with--I wanted out," she remembers thinking. "Please just get this over with. Whatever this is, just get it over." Corfman says she asked Moore to take her home, and he did.
Two of Corfman's childhood friends say she told them at the time that she was seeing an older man, and one says Corfman identified the man as Moore. Wells says her daughter told her about the encounter more than a decade later, as Moore was becoming more prominent as a local judge.
Three other women have also alleged that Moore pursued them when they were between the ages of 16 and 18, the Post reported. One of the women, Wendy Miller, said Moore first approached her when she was 14 and began asking her on dates when she was 16.
Lawmakers were quick to respond to the allegations, and many Republicans called on Moore to step down as the party's Senate nominee.
"If there is any truth at all to these horrific allegations, Roy Moore should immediately step aside as a Senate candidate," Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said in a statement.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called the allegations "deeply disturbing and disqualifying."
"He should immediately step aside and allow the people of Alabama to elect a candidate they are proud of," McCain wrote on Twitter.
Moore has been labeled a "bigot" and a "theocratic crackpot" for his record as an Alabama Supreme Court judge.
In 2003, Moore garnered national attention when he had a 5,280-pound monument of the 10 Commandments built inside Alabama's state judicial building. He has also suggested that Muslims should be barred from serving in Congress and that homosexuality should be outlawed.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.