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‘I’m Not Giving Up.’ Roy Moore Accuser Still Wants Sexual Misconduct Allegations Investigated

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Beverly Young Nelson, who accused Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore of sexually assaulting her as a teenager, still wants the allegations against him to be investigated even after his loss to Democrat Doug Jones.

In an interview on CNN New Day on Wednesday morning, Nelson said she believed the allegations she and eight other women made against Moore played a role in his defeat. Moore has repeatedly denied all of the allegations against him.

“I feel like my story may have played a part in this. But I also believe that it was the other victims as well that also helped, you know, with all this. I feel like it was just not me. It was all of us,” Nelson said. “I’m very excited over that because, you know, there’s no reason for me to go and lie on television when this was, you know, the truth from day one.”

Nelson said she doesn’t want the allegations against Moore to fade from public view because of his loss. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said earlier this month that Moore would immediately face an ethics investigation in the Senate if he won the race. Though Moore won’t join the Senate now, Nelson still wants an investigation.

“I intend on still pursuing it,” she said. “I’m not giving up.”

Nelson came forward at a Nov. 13 press conference days after the Washington Post reported that Moore had initiated a sexual encounter with 14-year-old Leigh Corfman and pursued romantic relationships with other women between the ages of 16 and 18 when he was in his 30s and a state district attorney. Nelson said that Moore groped her and forced her head into his crotch in his car in 1977 when she was 16. At the press conference, she presented a yearbook she said Moore signed for her with the note: “To a sweeter, more beautiful girl I could not say Merry Christmas. Love Roy Moore, D.A.”

Moore denied the allegations as “absolutely false,” saying that he didn’t know Nelson. His campaign called on Nelson to release the yearbook so experts could verify the authenticity of the signature. Nelson later said she wrote some words beneath the signature, which prompted Moore to accuse her of lying.

“She should have her reputation back,” Gloria Allred, Nelson’s attorney, told CNN on Wednesday. “Beverly is one of the most honest people you’ll meet in your life, and she deserves her reputation back.”

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Write to Samantha Cooney at samantha.cooney@time.com