Top GOP donor criticized RNC chair’s decision to back Moore: report

A top GOP operative criticized Republican National Committee (RNC) chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel’s decision to support Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore during a recent dinner attended by party donors, Politico reported on Monday.

Bobbie Kilberg, an influential Republican in Virginia, told McDaniel in front of the other donors that she was opposed to the move, according to Politico.

“There are some things that are more important than a vote in the Senate,” Kilberg told Politico. “Some things are more important, such as what the party stands for.”

{mosads}The RNC, which last month ended its fundraising agreement with Moore’s campaign over sexual misconduct allegations against the former judge, reinstated its support for the campaign after President Trump provided Moore with a full-throated endorsement last week.

Kilberg told Politico that McDaniel “felt it was her responsibility as chairman of the party, in agreement with the entire Alabama delegation in the House and Senate, and the Alabama RNC delegation,” to provide Moore’s campaign with fundraising help.

Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), told The Weekly Standard last week that the Senate GOP campaign arm “will never endorse” Moore. 

Multiple Republicans revoked their endorsements of Moore after The Washington Post reported that a woman said Moore initiated sexual contact with her when she was 14 years old. Moore, who would have been 32 at the time, has denied this accusation.

But the newspaper also spoke to three other women who said Moore made sexual advances toward them when they were between 16 and 18 years old. Other women have come forward since the initial story accusing Moore of sexual misconduct, including one who alleged Moore assaulted her when she was 16.

Moore admitted in an interview last month that he may have dated women in their later teens during that period in his life. In an interview with a local news outlet over the weekend, Moore denied dating underage girls. The age of consent in Alabama — both at the time of Moore’s alleged behavior and today — is 16.

Moore on Tuesday is up against Democrat Doug Jones in the special election to fill the seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.