Nov. 27 (UPI) — President Donald Trump doesn’t plan to campaign for U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore in Alabama, a White House official said Monday.
“There is nothing on the schedule at this time,” White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters told The Hill and USA Today.
Before leaving for Mar-a-Lago last week, Trump told reporters, “I’ll be letting you know next week” about campaigning for Moore before Alabama’s Dec.12 special election.
Trump has defended Moore, who is accused of a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old girl when he was 32 and assaulting or pursuing contact with eight other teenage girls.
Trump told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House that Moore “totally denies it,” and criticized Democratic opponent Doug Jones.
On Sunday Trump posted on Twitter: “The last thing we need in Alabama and the U.S. Senate is a Schumer/Pelosi puppet who is WEAK on Crime, WEAK on the Border, Bad for our Military and our great Vets, Bad for our 2nd Amendment, AND WANTS TO RAISES TAXES TO THE SKY.”
Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, have called on Moore to withdraw from the race. Most Alabama party leaders back Moore, including Gov. Kay Ivey, who has said she won’t move the special election date.
Lee Busby, a 60-year-old retired Marine colonel who was vice chief of staff to John Kelly, said he plans to launch a write-in bid for the seat. Kelly is now White House chief of staff.
“I think you can flip this thing. If this were a military operation, the left flank and the right flank are heavily guarded,” Busby told The Washington Post. “I think that gives you an opportunity to run straight up the middle.”
Busby, who said he plans to run as an independent, has launched a website with a countdown clock to the election.
In a Real Clear Politics poll from Nov. 9-20, Jones led Moore by less than 1 percentage point.
