Ryan reiterates call for Roy Moore to drop out

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) on Thursday reiterated his call for Alabama GOP Senate hopeful Roy Moore to drop out of the race over allegations of sexual misconduct, including assault.

“I think he should have dropped out,” Ryan told reporters at his weekly news conference. “Just because the polling has changed doesn’t change my opinion on that, so I stand by what I said before.”

Ryan had made similar comments last month after Moore faced a flurry of allegations that he had aggressively pursued, and in at least one case sexually assaulted, teenage girls when Moore was in his 30s.

A controversial former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice, Moore will square off with Democrat Doug Jones in a Tuesday special election to finish the remainder of Republican Jeff Sessions’s term, who resigned earlier this year to become President Trump’s attorney general.  

A Raycom News Network poll out this week showed that Moore had increased his lead over Jones, 50 percent to 43 percent.

President Trump and the Republican National Committee have gone all-in on support for Moore despite the allegations against him. Trump endorsed Moore on Monday, prompting the RNC to renew its support for his campaign.

Ryan’s remarks came just moments before Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) took to the Senate floor and announced he would resign over his own sexual harassment allegations.