A fifth woman came forward Monday with powerful sexual allegations against Republican U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore. Beverly Young Nelson said Moore sexually assaulted her when she was a 16-year-old waitress at a restaurant Moore often frequented.
Nelson said when her boyfriend was late to take her home at the end of the night, Moore offered to give her a ride home. She agreed, but instead, she said, Moore pulled around to the back of the restaurant and tried to force sexual contact.
“Instead of stopping, he began squeezing my neck, attempting to force my head onto his crotch. I continued to struggle,” Nelson said. She said she thought Moore was going to rape her.
Nelson said Moore left her with marks on her neck from the struggle. She said he told her no one would believe her if she told anyone. At the time, he was assistant district attorney of Etowah County.
Moore responded Monday evening by continuing to deny the allegations. He told The Anniston Star Nelson’s allegations were false. “I never did what she said I did. I don’t even know the woman. I don’t know anything about her. I don’t know where the restaurant is or was.”
Nelson was accompanied Monday by high-profile women’s rights attorney Gloria Allred. Moore’s campaign issued a statement before the afternoon news conference calling Allred “a sensationalist leading a witch hunt, and she is only around to create a spectacle.”
Four other women have publicly accused Moore of pursuing relationships with them or initiating sexual contact with them when they were teens and he was in his 30’s. The youngest was a 14-year-old girl when Moore was a 32-year-old assistant district attorney.
Meanwhile, Republican leaders in Washington called for Moore to step aside. “I believe the women,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said. He added that a write-in campaign for Luther Strange, who lost the Republican primary to Moore, is possible.
Just to be clear. If the choice is between Roy Moore and a Democrat, I would run to the polling place to vote for the Democrat https://t.co/Ec96HRt228
— Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) November 13, 2017
CNN reports the pressure on Moore to step down is mounting.
More than 20 Republicans have called for Roy Moore to step aside https://t.co/OJpFKn3Jl1 pic.twitter.com/bot0S4LvQQ
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) November 14, 2017
