--- title: Donald Trump Won't Call for Roy Moore to Quit in Alabama description: The White House declined to take a stand on whether embattled Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore should drop out canonical: https://time.com/5028380/donald-trump-on-roy-moore/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-16T21:42:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:17:10.087Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Won't Call for Roy Moore to Quit in Alabama og:description: "The people of Alabama should make the decision" og:url: https://time.com/5028380/donald-trump-on-roy-moore/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte1c64735b302999e/6988e5bc929fad261fbee7a4/gettyimages-873450764.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Trump Asia Trade og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Won't Call for Roy Moore to Quit in Alabama twitter:description: "The people of Alabama should make the decision" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte1c64735b302999e/6988e5bc929fad261fbee7a4/gettyimages-873450764.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Thinks the Roy Moore Allegations Are 'Very Troubling.' But He's Not Pushing Him to Quit  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Nov 16, 2017 9:42 PM UTC  NOV. 13 - US President Donald Trump leaves after posing for a family photo during the ASEAN-US 40th Anniversary commemorative Summit on the sideline of the 31st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in Manila NOV. 13 - US President Donald Trump leaves after posing for a family photo during the ASEAN-US 40th Anniversary commemorative Summit on the sideline of the 31st Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit in ManilaMANAN VATSYAYANA—AFP/Getty Images  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Nov 16, 2017 9:42 PM UTC The White House on Thursday declined to take a stand on whether [embattled Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore](http://time.com/5025829/will-roy-moore-win-will-doug-jones-win/) should drop out of the race, as t[he sexual misconduct scandal buffeting Moore](http://time.com/5026684/roy-moore-alabama-new-accusation-tina-johnson-grope/) continues to grow. “The President believes that these allegations are very troubling and should be taken seriously,” White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders told reporters, discussing a political firestorm on which [President Donald Trump has largely stayed silent](http://time.com/5026934/donald-trump-roy-moore-sean-hannity/). “He thinks that the people of Alabama should make the decision on who their next senator should be.” Multiple women have accused Moore of pursuing them sexually when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s, allegations Moore has denied. Numerous [Republican senators have called on Moore to drop out](http://time.com/5023205/roy-moore-senate-republican-party/) of the race against Democrat [Doug Jones](http://time.com/5021356/doug-jones-alabama-roy-moore/), but the White House wouldn’t go that far. Sanders did say “the President supported the decision by the \[Republican National Committee\] to withdraw resources from this race,” but she reiterated that Alabama voters need to make their own choice on Moore. Sanders was similarly circumspect when asked about about a new accusation that Minnesota Democratic Sen. [Al Franken kissed and groped a woman without her consent](http://time.com/5027428/leann-tweeden-senator-al-franken-picture/) more than a decade ago. Franken, while saying he doesn’t remember the incident the way accuser Leeann Tweeden does, nevertheless apologized and spent Thursday doing damage control. “It appears that the Senate is looking into that, which they should, and we feel like it’s an appropriate action,” Sanders said. Senate Majority Leader [Mitch McConnell has called for the Senate Ethics Committee](http://time.com/5027735/mitch-mcconnell-investigate-al-franken-groping/) to review Franken’s conduct. Trump infamously faced his own sexual harassment scandal during the 2016 presidential election, as multiple women accused him and a tape surfaced of him bragging about groping women without their consent. Trump has repeatedly denied all accusations. But Sanders said Trump’s reaction to his own accusers — calling them liars and threatening to sue them — isn’t inconsistent with saying that Moore’s accusers should be “taken seriously.” “I think the President has certainly a lot more insight into what he personally did or didn’t do,” Sanders said. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5028380/donald-trump-on-roy-moore/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5028380/donald-trump-on-roy-moore/"},"headline":"Trump Thinks the Roy Moore Allegations Are 'Very Troubling.' 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