--- title: Moore Attorney Alludes to Ali Velshi's 'Background' on MSNBC description: On MSNBC's Velshi & Rhule, Roy Moore attorney Trenton Garmon said Ali Velshi's "background" might help him understand dating teen girls canonical: https://time.com/5025751/trenton-garmon-ali-velshi-background/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-15T18:57:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:15:22.918Z article:section: Politics og:title: Roy Moore's Attorney Said an MSBNC Host's Cultural 'Background' Could Explain Dating Teens og:description: He's Canadian og:url: https://time.com/5025751/trenton-garmon-ali-velshi-background/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21b094eab1d115b8/6988e5f08fd2eed3fb359a63/ali-velshi-msnbc.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The Hollywood Reporter's 35 Most Powerful People In Media 2017 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Roy Moore's Attorney Said an MSBNC Host's Cultural 'Background' Could Explain Dating Teens twitter:description: He's Canadian twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21b094eab1d115b8/6988e5f08fd2eed3fb359a63/ali-velshi-msnbc.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Roy Moore's Attorney Said an MSBNC Host's Cultural 'Background' Could Explain Dating Teens  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Nov 15, 2017 6:57 PM UTC  Ali Velshi attends The Hollywood Reporter's 35 Most Powerful People In Media 2017 on April 13, 2017 in New York City. Ali Velshi attends The Hollywood Reporter's 35 Most Powerful People In Media 2017 on April 13, 2017 in New York City.Sylvain Gaboury—Patrick McMullan via Getty Image  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Nov 15, 2017 6:57 PM UTC Roy Moore’s attorney Trenton Garmon suggested on air that an MSNBC host’s “background” might help him understand why someone would date teenage girls. Garmon appeared on MSNBC’s _Velshi & Ruhle_, which is hosted by Ali Velshi and Stephanie Ruhle, to discuss the scandal surrounding his client, who has been accused of having sexual or romantic relations with at least five teenage girls, one as young as 14, while he was in his 30s. Moore has denied some accusations — including those brought by Beverly Young Nelson, [who says Moore sexually assaulted her in a vehicle when she was 16](http://time.com/5021756/roy-moore-alabama-senate-race-fifth-accuser-beverly-young-nelson/) — and dismissed others, saying that he does not remember dating teenagers or [dating any woman “without the permission of her mother.”](http://time.com/5019836/roy-moore-dating-teenagers-alabama-senate-sean-hannity/) In addressing the latter comment on MSNBC, Garmon deferred to cultural differences before mentioning “Ali’s background.” “What does Ali’s background have to do with dating a 14-year-old?” Ruhle asked. “In other countries, there’s arrangements through parents for what we would refer to as consensual marriage,” Garmon eventually answered. Velshi, who is of Indian descent, is from Canada. > [](https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/930837883732287488) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5025751/trenton-garmon-ali-velshi-background/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5025751/trenton-garmon-ali-velshi-background/"},"headline":"Roy Moore's Attorney Said an MSBNC Host's Cultural 'Background' Could Explain Dating Teens","datePublished":"2017-11-15T18:57:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:15:22.918Z","description":"Ali Velshi is Canadian","url":"https://time.com/5025751/trenton-garmon-ali-velshi-background/","keywords":["Media","politics","MSNBC","sexual misconduct","Roy Moore","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21b094eab1d115b8/6988e5f08fd2eed3fb359a63/ali-velshi-msnbc.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt21b094eab1d115b8/6988e5f08fd2eed3fb359a63/ali-velshi-msnbc.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Hollywood Reporter's 35 Most Powerful People In Media 2017","caption":"The Hollywood Reporter's 35 Most Powerful People In Media 2017","creditText":"Sylvain Gaboury—Patrick McMullan via Getty Image","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/media/","name":"Media"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5025751/trenton-garmon-ali-velshi-background/","name":"Roy Moore's Attorney Said an MSBNC Host's Cultural 'Background' Could Explain Dating Teens"}}]}] ```