New York, Nov 14 (AFP) A fifth woman has accusedRepublican Senate candidate Roy Moore of sexual misconduct,claiming he assaulted her when she was a teenager, as theevangelical conservative came under mounting party pressure toquit the Alabama election.
Moore -- a former state supreme court judge running atight race against a Democratic lawyer -- denies anywrongdoing, calling the allegations "absolutely false."But Beverly Young Nelson claimed the now 70-year-oldgrandfather sexually assaulted her when she was a 16-year-oldwaitress and he was a county district attorney twice her agearound January 1978.
Nelson, who is now a 55-year-old businesswoman inAlabama, told reporters in New York yesterday that Moore, aregular in the restaurant where she worked, one night offeredto drive her home after she finished her shift.
But he instead parked between a dumpster and the back ofthe restaurant, in a dark and deserted spot, locking the carso she could not get out.
Moore then groped her and squeezed her neck, attemptingto force her head onto his crotch, she said, reading from aprepared statement alongside celebrity lawyer Gloria Allred,who has represented women who accused felled Hollywood mogulHarvey Weinstein of sexual assault.
"I was terrified. He was also trying to pull my shirtoff. I thought that he was going to rape me. I was twistingand struggling and begging him to stop," Nelson said, speakingthrough tears.
She alleged that Moore eventually gave up and drove off,leaving her behind "on the cold concrete in the dark."Nelson said she was motivated to speak out after fourother women told The Washington Post that Moore also pursuedthem in their teens, while he was in his early 30s working asan assistant district attorney.
"I can tell you without hesitation this is absolutelyfalse," Moore said, speaking alongside his wife, who expressedsupport.
"I never did what she said I did. I don't even know thewoman. I don't know anything about her. I don't even knowwhere the restaurant is or was," he told reporters, decliningto take any questions.
Moore has said he has no recollection of dating women intheir teens when he was in his 30s.
But he faced mounting calls late yesterday to quit thetight race with Democrat Doug Jones as Republicans seek tohold on to their slim 52-48 majority in the Senate and replaceJeff Sessions, now US attorney general.
The Senate's top Republican Mitch McConnell said hebelieved Moore's accusers and urged the anti-establishmentconservative -- who is far to the right of his own party -- to"step aside" from the December 12 election.
Senator Jeff Flake, a Republican, said he would rathervote for a Democrat than for Moore, and agreed on calls toexpel him should he win.
White House officials have also said that if theaccusations are true, Moore should step aside.
Under Alabama law, it is too late to have Moore's nametaken off the ballot, but some Republicans have discussedputting forth another candidate voters could write in manuallyon their ballot.
The number two Senate Republican, John Cornyn, withdrewhis endorsement of Moore, calling the accusations "disturbingand, if true, disqualifying."Lindsey Graham, the prominent Republican senator fromSouth Carolina, followed suit, tweeting that Moore "would bedoing himself, the state, the GOP, and the country a serviceby stepping aside."But some still expressed support. Alabama RepresentativeMo Brooks said he backed Moore because his Democratic rivalwill "vote wrong.""There are major issues facing the United States ofAmerica," Brooks was quoted by newspaper Roll Call as saying.
"Doug Jones will vote wrong on each of those issues...
Roy Moore will vote right; that's why I'm voting for RoyMoore."Allred left open the possibility that other accusers maycome forward, refusing to comment when asked if other womenhad contacted her about Moore.
The accusations have inflamed national debate aboutsexual harassment in the wake of the Weinstein scandal, aswomen flood social media with photographs of themselves at 14-- all braces and schoolgirl innocence -- to raise alarm overthe issue of consent.
"This is me at 14. I was on the gymnastics team and sangin the choir. I was not dating a 32 year old man," tweeted TheDaily Show co-creator Lizz Winstead.
Nelson batted aside any suggestion that she was motivatedby politics.
"My husband and I supported Donald Trump for president,"she said. "This has nothing whatsoever to do with Republicansor Democrats.
"Mr Moore attacked me when I was a child. I did nothingto deserve this sexual attack. I was frightened by hisposition and his power," she said. (AFP)KIS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.