‘Morning Joe’ panelists: GOP becomes ‘party of pedophiles’ with Moore

Panelists on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” said Wednesday that the Republican Party risks becoming the “party of pedophiles” in the wake of President Trump’s apparent support of embattled Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore.

“If your moral code doesn’t dictate that you come out strongly against someone who’s been accused of these things, maybe a political, strategic argument would prevail on the president, which is that you win this seat, this Senate seat for Roy Moore, it’s a Pyrrhic victory because you will be saddled, as you all have just said, as the party of a pedophiles for the rest of Roy Moore’s term,” panelist Willie Geist said.

Co-host Joe Scarbrough said he believes it’s still more likely Moore will lose the Dec. 12 special election to Democrat Doug Jones.

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“Then in that case you get the worst of all worlds where you lose the seat, and in the process of losing it you’ve become the party of pedophiles,” panelist John Heilemann added.

Trump on Tuesday appeared to throw his support behind Moore despite allegations of sexual misconduct against the Alabama Senate candidate. Multiple women have accused Moore of sexual misconduct, including one woman who said Moore initiated a sexual encounter with her when she was 14 and Moore was 32.

“We don’t need a liberal person in there, a Democrat,” Trump told reporters.

Trump declined to say whether he believes the accusations against Moore, but stressed that the former judge has denied them. 

“He denies it. He totally denies it,” Trump said, noting the alleged incidents took place about 40 years ago. “Roy Moore denies it — that’s all I can say.”

Numerous Republicans have called on Moore to drop out of the race, though Moore has vowed to finish the campaign. 

The special election is set for Dec. 12.