--- title: Mitch McConnell: 'No Change of Heart' Over Roy Moore description: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell insisted on Tuesday that he's still uneasy about Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore. canonical: https://time.com/5050655/roy-moore-mitch-mcconnell-trump/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-12-05T22:00:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T08:34:11.670Z article:section: Politics og:title: Mitch McConnell Insists 'No Change of Heart' Over Roy Moore og:description: "Let me say it again: I had hoped that Judge Moore would withdraw from the race" og:url: https://time.com/5050655/roy-moore-mitch-mcconnell-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt78a52f2d9f4c58a7/6988f3e022fb85ebc4e23eec/gettyimages-886455334.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Senate GOP And Democrats Hold Weekly Policy Luncheons At The Capitol og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mitch McConnell Insists 'No Change of Heart' Over Roy Moore twitter:description: "Let me say it again: I had hoped that Judge Moore would withdraw from the race" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt78a52f2d9f4c58a7/6988f3e022fb85ebc4e23eec/gettyimages-886455334.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 video:duration: 01:09 video:published: 2017-11-09 section: politics topics: sexual misconduct allegations, Roy Moore, Alabama Senate race, Republican Party, political accountability, stepping aside from candidacy genre: news interview, political news tones: serious, concerned, critical emotions: concern (high), disapproval (medium), anger (low) sentiment: negative audience: political news readers, voters, TIME viewers, policy observers people: Roy Moore organizations: Republican Party, TIME content_suitability: sexual content [00:26-00:55]; politics [00:26-01:20] transcript_source: publisher captions transcript_reviewed: not applicable ---  # Mitch McConnell Insists 'No Change of Heart' Over Roy Moore > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=ee2e3686-8e0f-4dd4-8439-dd22ae5532b4&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: More Women Are Accusing Roy Moore of Sexual Misconduct. Here’s Everything You Need to Know About the Scanda [Watch (HLS stream): More Women Are Accusing Roy Moore of Sexual Misconduct. Here’s Everything You Need to Know About the Scanda](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/NwYX4OYX.m3u8) (1:09)  _Published 2017-11-09. Another woman came forward on Wednesday to accuse Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore of sexual misconduct, saying he groped her in 1991 after she met with him in his law office to discuss custody of her children._ Description, summary, key points, chapters, key quotes, questions and transcript, where present, were produced automatically from the video or its captions and were not reviewed. ## Summary The video reports on allegations against Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, with a brief interview segment in which speakers react to the allegations. One speaker says that if the allegations are true, Moore should step aside, and another says the matter is concerning regardless of political affiliation. The segment also touches on whether the scandal will harm the Republican Party. ## Key points - The video references allegations of sexual misconduct against Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore. (00:26) - A speaker says that if the allegations are true, Moore immediately needs to step aside. (00:55) - The interviewer asks how concerned the guest is that the scandal will hit the Republican Party. (00:59) - The guest says that if Moore does the right thing and steps aside, the Republican Party will not be hurt. (01:02) - A speaker says that if the allegations are true, Moore should step aside regardless of political affiliation. (01:09) - A speaker describes the situation, if the allegations are true, as a horrific situation. (01:11) - A speaker says the situation is very concerning. (01:20) ## Chapters - [00:00 to 00:26] Opening music and intro. The segment opens with music and blank audio before the discussion begins. - [00:26 to 01:09] Reactions to Moore allegations. Speakers discuss whether Moore should step aside and how the allegations may affect the Republican Party. ## Key quotes - [00:55] interviewer: "How concerned are you that this is gonna hit the Republican Party?" - [01:02] guest: "if he does what he should do, does the right thing and steps aside, I don't think it will hurt the Republican party" - [01:09] guest: "If they're true, he should step aside." - [01:11] guest: "that's a horrific situation." ## Questions this video answers - Should Roy Moore step aside if the allegations are true? [00:55] - How concerned are people that the scandal will hit the Republican Party? [00:59] - Will the Republican Party be hurt if Moore steps aside? [01:02] - Does political affiliation change how serious the allegations are? [01:09] ## Content suitability - sexual content [00:26-00:55]: References allegations of sexual misconduct against a political candidate. - politics [00:26-01:20]: Discusses a political candidate and party implications of allegations. by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Dec 5, 2017 10:00 PM UTC Another woman came forward on Wednesday to accuse Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore of sexual misconduct, saying he groped her in 1991 after she met with him in his law office to discuss custody of her children. by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Dec 5, 2017 10:00 PM UTC Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell insisted on Tuesday that he’s still uneasy about the controversy-wracked Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, despite comments he made over the weekend that suggested the sexual misconduct against the Baptist judge were outside of his purview. “There’s been no change of heart,” McConnell said on Tuesday, when asked where he stood on Moore’s candidacy. “I had hoped earlier that he would withdraw as a candidate, and obviously it’s not going to happen. If he were to be elected, he would immediately have an ethics committee case, and the committee would take a look at the situation and give us advice.” Moore, [a 70-year-old lawyer](http://time.com/4989044/roy-moore-how-could-disrupt-trump-gop/) from Alabama’s sleepy northern hills, has been among the most incendiary figures in this year’s national political discussion. He previously served as the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court — a post he was removed from twice, once for refusing to take down a monument to the Ten Commandments he’d erected in the state courthouse and again for defying the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 ruling on same-sex marriage – and now he’s running for the Senate seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. He handily defeated incumbent Luther Strange in the September primary, and he remains competitive in the general contest, scheduled for next Tuesday. Moore had always been controversial — among other things, he has in the past compared homosexuality to bestiality — but a national scandal erupted in November, when a number of women alleged in the [Washington _Post_ ](https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/woman-says-roy-moore-initiated-sexual-encounter-when-she-was-14-he-was-32/2017/11/09/1f495878-c293-11e7-afe9-4f60b5a6c4a0%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.7cd871e0d1b9)that several decades ago, Moore had pursued sexual relationships with them while they were teenage girls. The G.O.P. was swift to distance itself from him. On Nov. 13, McConnell, echoing a [number of his colleagues](http://time.com/5023205/roy-moore-senate-republican-party/) in the Senate, called on Moore to exit the election. “I believe the women,” McConnell [said then](http://time.com/5021589/roy-moore-mitch-mcconnell/). He also floated the prospect of nominating a write-in candidate to supplant Moore. But on Sunday, in an interview with [_This Week_ on ABC](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/week-transcript-12-17-sen-mitch-mcconnell-rep/story?id=51533836), McConnell appeared to waffle. “I’m going to let the people of Alabama make the call,” he said, when asked by host George Stephanopoulos if he believed Moore “should be in the Senate.” He was bombarded with questions on Moore at a weekly press conference with Senate Republican leadership on Tuesday. “I’ve made my position perfectly clear,” he said. “Let me say it again: I had hoped that Judge Moore would withdraw from the race.” He also noted that if Moore wins next week, “based on a 1969 Supreme Court decision, we would have no choice but to swear him in.” McConnell’s remarks on Tuesday came a day after President Donald Trump formally endorsed Moore in both tweets and a phone call to Moore himself, in which he offered, as Moore later [recounted](http://time.com/5049288/rnc-supports-roy-moore-donald-trump/), “his full support.” Trump will travel to Pensacola, Florida, a city less than 20 miles from the Alabama border, on Friday for a rally. The Republican National Committee has since confirmed that it would renew its backing of Moore during the campaign’s final stretch, after ceasing its fundraising efforts for the candidate last month. These pivots underscore the uncomfortable rift in Republican politics in the age of Trump. The Republican establishment finds itself in an awkward position: though their policy and political priorities often differ from those of the president, more often than not they find themselves needing to acquiesce to avoid alienating Trump’s base. Those Republicans who have publicly defied Trump — [Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona](http://time.com/5042705/donald-trump-jeff-flake-not-going-quietly/), for instance — have seen their popularity, and in turn their careers, crumble. Other than Trump himself, Moore is perhaps the most prominent face of the populist, anti-establishment groundswell that has redefined conservative politics over the last two years. Should Moore win and hold onto his Senate seat, we can expect some awkward meetings between him and McConnell: Moore’s campaign messaging has railed against the Senate Majority Leader as a _bête noire_ embodying the worst of establishment politics. In a conversation with TIME on Nov. 14, shortly after the allegations of sexual impropriety against Moore surfaced, his campaign manager Bill Armistead accused McConnell of “working to the tune of 20 or 30 million dollars” to slander Moore in the Republican primary. (The Republican mainstream had backed incumbent Sen. Luther Strange, who took Sessions’ seat when he became Attorney General.) “It’s politically motivated. It’s coming from those who don’t want Judge Moore in Washington,” Armistead said. “They’re false attacks on the judge and we’ll let the people decide if the judge is an honorable man.” ## Transcript [00:07] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [ MUSIC ] [00:15] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [00:26] If the allegations [00:32] are true [00:55] to me, he immediately needs to step aside. How [00:59] concerned are you that this is gonna hit the Republican [01:02] Party? Well, I think if he Does what he [01:06] should do, does the right thing and steps aside, I don't [01:09] think it will hurt the Republican party .>> If they're [01:11] true, he should step aside. I don't care what side of [01:13] the aisle you're on, that's a horrific situation. It's very [01:20] concerning. 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