Joe Raedle/Getty Images(BIRMINGHAM, Ala.) — Former Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore is long past the need for campaign contributions, but that didn’t stop him from pleading with supporters to help pay his hefty legal fees incurred trying to fight sexual misconduct allegations.
The Republican, who lost to Democrat Doug Jones in a Dec. 12 runoff to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions, took to Facebook late Thursday to tell supporters he faces that “another vicious attack from lawyers in Washington, D.C. and San Francisco who have hired one of the biggest firms in Birmingham, Alabama, to bring another legal action against me and ensure that I never fight again.”
Moore is asking for supporters to donate $250,000 to help him pay off his legal fees.
Starting in early November 2017, Moore faced accusations from eight women that he engaged in sexual misconduct, including that he initiated a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old girl in 1979, when he was 32. Moore denied all of the claims and steadfastly remained in the race, even as members of his own party called for him to drop out.
Leigh Corfman, the women who claims Moore assaulted her at 14, sued Moore for defamation in January, according to The Washington Post.
Also contributing to Moore’s legal costs, the former Alabama chief justice filed a lawsuit in late December after losing to Jones, trying to prevent the results of the special election from being certified. The case was tossed out by Alabama circuit judge Johnny Hardwick on the same day results were certified on Dec. 28.
“I have lawyers who want to help, but they are not without cost, and besides their fees, legal expenses could run over $100,000,” Moore wrote on Thursday. “I have had to establish a legal defense fund.”
As he did throughout his losing campaign, Moore attacked the “liberal media” in his plea for donations and wrote, “Gays, lesbians and transgenders have joined forces with those who believe in abortion, sodomy, and destruction of all that we hold dear. Unless we stand together, we will lose our country.”
Moore admits in the letter that his funds are “depleted” and he has “struggled to make ends meet.” The candidate raised over $6.1 million during the special election, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, an independent nonprofit that tracks campaign donations, and spent all but $48,771.
“Please send a generous gift today to the Roy Moore Legal Defense Fund to help me defeat, once and for all, those who would destroy America in order to usher in their anti-Christian ‘kingdom,'” Moore asked.
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