Republican Alabama Senate candidate’s latest accuser Tina Johnson spoke out on Friday about her alleged experience with him in 1991, claiming that she was left ‘scarred for life’ when he groped her in his office during a meeting about her son’s custody.
Johnson, who this week emerged as the ninth woman to accuse Moore, 70, of sexual misconduct, went on the Megyn Kelly Today show to provide details of her encounter with the beleaguered candidate while he worked as an attorney in Alabama more than two decades ago.
Johnson was then 28 and in a strained marriage, and was visiting with her mother who had hired Moore to handle a custody petition involving Johnson’s son.
Accuser speaks out: Tina Johnson, one of nine women who so far have accused Roy Moore of sexual misconduct, spoke out about the allegations on Megyn Kelly Today on Friday
Johnson told Kelly Moore ‘forcefully grabbed her behind’ as she was leaving his office in 1991
‘As soon as we came into his office, it was ongoing flirting, telling me I was pretty,’ Johnson recounted for Kelly.
Johnson said Moore asked her out on a date, even though he was married – a fact she was not aware of at the time, she said.
‘He got out of his desk and his sat on the end…his knee was touching my knee and I could smell his breath even,’ the accuser recalled.
Johnson, who also had two young daughters, said Moore complemented her on her eyes, asked how old her girls were and inquired if they had her ‘beautiful eyes.’
‘I was just shocked,’ she told Kelly, referring to Moore’s comments. ‘It was already uncomfortable when he started mentioning the two girls. Bells went off.’
As Johnson and her mother got up to leave Moore’s office at the conclusion of the meeting, Johnson said, he groped her buttocks.
Strong words: Johnson said of Moore: ‘I think that he wanted to take my power so he could feel powerful.’ She also claimed the candidate (pictured right on Thursday) scarred her for life
‘He just grabbed my behind. I mean, forcefully grabbed it. And I didn’t even react, I just walked out,’ she said. ‘I was so ashamed. I thought I did something.’
Choking back tears, Johnson added: ‘The day he’d done that, he scarred me for life. I was vulnerable from the start, and he was in a position of power. I think that he wanted to take my power so he could feel powerful.’
Johnson told Kelly that she has no interest in politics, and that people in her home state were no supportive of her decision to air her ‘dirty laundry’ in public, but she decided to come forward after learning that another woman claimed Moore initiated a sexual encounter with her decades ago when she was 14 and he was in his 30s.
Moore’s campaign on Thursday lashed out at the women accusing him of sexual misconduct, declaring ‘let the battle begin,’ despite mounting calls from Washington Republicans for the candidate to step aside.
‘You ask me if I believe the girls. No, I don’t believe the girls. I believe Judge Moore,” Moore strategist Dean Young said. ‘Let the battle begin. … Get ready to fight Mitch McConnell. We’re going to fight you to the death on this.’
President Donald Trump, through a spokeswoman, called the allegations of sexual misconduct against the former judge ‘very troubling.’ The Republican president stopped short of calling on Moore to quit the race, however, breaking with most Republican leaders in Washington, including McConnell, the Senate majority leader.
The fifth accuser, Beverly Young Nelson, held an emotional press conference on Monday alleging that Moore sexually assaulted her in his car in 1977
Wendy Miller (left) says she was just 14 and dressed as an Elf who was a ‘Santa’s helper’ at the mall when Moore allegedly asked her out. Kelly Harrison Thorp (right) said she was asked on a date by Moore when she was just 17 years old
Debbie Wesson Gibson says she was 17 when Moore allegedly kissed her once in his bedroom and once at a local country club pool
‘He thinks that the people of Alabama should make the decision on who their next senator should be,’ White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, declining to clarify whether Trump continued to back Moore.
In Alabama, Moore appeared alongside more than a dozen religious leaders, who took turns bashing the Christian conservative’s many critics – especially his female accusers.
‘This is a man who does not lie. Compare that to his accusers,’ charged Gordon Klingenschmitt of the group Pray in Jesus’ Name.
With Moore looking on, Klingenschmitt quoted the Ten Commandments in a message aimed at two women he called out by name – one has said she was 14 and the other that she was 16 when Moore initiated sexual contact as a district attorney in his 30s.
‘Thou shalt not bear false witness,’ Klingenschmitt declared.
Another Moore supporter, professor Joel Brind of Baruch College, singled out Gloria Allred, the attorney for one of the accusers, for supporting an agenda designed to ‘enable serial child predators’ – a reference, Brind said, to Allred’s support for abortion rights.
Moore called the allegations ‘unsubstantiated,’ ‘unproven’ and ‘fake.’ ‘They’re not only untrue, but they have no evidence to support them,’ he insisted, refusing to answer any questions from reporters about the allegations.
Moore’s attorney has demanded that one of the accusers, Beverly Young Nelson, release a yearbook she contends Moore signed so it can be analyzed by a handwriting expert to prove its authenticity. Nelson says that Moore aggressively groped her in a locked car when she was 16.
The Moore campaign dug up Nelson’s divorce papers, which had been signed by Moore, and held them up to cameras suggesting she had copied the signature.
It was unclear whether the campaign was taking other steps to probe the background of his accusers. Moore strategist Dean Young said ‘no’ when asked Thursday whether the campaign had hired a private investigator.
Not backing down: A defiant Moore appeared alongside more than a dozen religious leaders in Birmingham, Alabama, Thursday
Gloria Allred, Nelson’s attorney, said she and her client were prepared for Moore’s ‘slash and burn’ approach.
‘If in fact his attempt is to intimidate her or me, he has failed miserably,’ she said. ‘We prepared. We knew that this would be a battle for the truth, that this is someone who most likely will fight to the end.’
At least three new allegations of misconduct surfaced on Wednesday, including one by Tina Johnson, who initially told AL.com about the alleged 1991 groping inciden.
Two others told The Washington Post they were young women when Moore courted them as a district attorney in his 30s. Three other women told the newspaper last week that they were teens when Moore tried to initiate romantic relationships. One said she was 14 when Moore touched her over her bra and underwear.
The Alabama Republican Party reiterated its support for Moore on Thursday, a day after its 21-member steering committee privately contemplated the situation.
The state GOP has the power to revoke Moore’s GOP nomination and ask election officials to ignore ballots cast for him, although the state party has little interest in alienating Moore’s followers a year before statewide elections.
Meanwhile, the National Organization For Women condemned the attacks against Moore’s accusers, suggesting that the tactics help explain why many victims of sexual harassment are afraid to go public.