NYT: White House officials floated replacing Moore with Sessions

White House officials have reportedly spoken about the idea of replacing Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore with Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

According to a New York Times report, two White House officials spoke about the potential for Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) to appoint Sessions to the seat instead.

The White House officials said Sessions could then be appointed to his old Senate seat “when it becomes vacant,” according to the Times.

It is unclear how, if Moore is elected, the seat would become vacant.

The report comes as Moore faces growing pressure from Republicans to step aside in the Alabama Senate race after allegations of sexual misconduct with a teenager.

In a Washington Post report published last week, a woman says Moore initiated a sexual encounter with her in 1979 when she was 14 and he was 32.

Three other women said in the same report that Moore had pursued relationships with them around the same time, when they were between the ages of 16 and 18 and Moore was in his 30s.

Moore has denied the claims and has said he plans to remain in the race.

But a growing number of lawmakers — now including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) — have called for Moore to step aside in the wake of the allegations.

Some lawmakers have also raised the idea of a write-in campaign.

Earlier this year, President Trump attacked Sessions, who formerly served as an Alabama senator, after his decision to recuse himself from the Justice Department’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election. In July, following the attacks, Sessions said he did not plan to step down, despite the increasing tension.

The Alabama Senate special election to serve out the remainder of Sessions’s term, a contest between Moore and Democrat Doug Jones, is set for Dec. 12.