WASHINGTON – The White House on Monday joined a growing chorus of Republicans declining to formally back Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore but stressing that the GOP-held seat is too important to lose.
The president and senior White House officials have declined to call publicly for Moore to drop out or to give him an official endorsement. But a GOP talking point has emerged that has been repeated in various forms.
Trump "wants people in the House and the Senate who support his policies," press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday.
Sanders' comments were the clearest sign yet that the White House has decided against trying to force Moore from the race amid a slew of sexual misconduct allegations.
Trump has declined to weigh in directly on the Moore matter, with Sanders and other top aides last week saying the president expects the former judge to drop out if the allegations are true. And late last week, Sanders told reporters it should be up to Alabamians, not the president, to determine whether the charges are true.
Signs that the GOP — including the Trump White House — was preparing the new line began Friday.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey became the first senior official to publicly say that while she had no reason to doubt Moore's accusers she viewed the Senate seat as too important to hand to Democrats.
"We need to have a Republican in the United States Senate to vote on things like Supreme Court justices, other appointments the Senate has to confirm and make major decisions," Ivey said. "So that's what I plan to do, vote for the Republican nominee Roy Moore."
On Monday, White House aide Kellyanne Conway uttered a different version of that stance on Fox News. "Folks, don't be fooled. [Democratic nominee Doug Jones] will be a vote against tax cuts," she said.
Also on Monday morning, Katie Walsh, a former Trump White House deputy chief of staff, told Fox News Radio that "the allegations against Judge Moore are deeply troubling, and I believe that he should step aside if there's any truth to them at all, but the reality is Kellyanne is right, that we need the votes to pass tax reform."
