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Lindsey Graham Calls On Roy Moore To Step Aside, But Testifies Bob Menendez ‘Honorable Guy’

Mike Davies

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., joined the ranks of those calling on Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore to step aside based on the sexual misconduct allegations against him, when just a few weeks ago the senator testified at Democrat Sen. Bob Menendez’s corruption trial.

Menendez, who Graham called an “honorable guy,” has been accused of engaging in a multitude of illicit activities, including sexual encounters with underage teenage prostitutes.

According to Breitbart, Graham told reporters, “I suggested it would be best for him, the state, his family, the GOP and the country, if he stepped aside. I just think there’s no good outcome for Mr. Moore. Even if you win, you lose, because you are coming to a body where people are already calling for your expulsion.”

The senator also tweeted that same day, that in light of the most recent allegations made against the candidate on Monday, he should leave the race.

 

Beverly Young Nelson claimed at a press conference in New York City on Monday that Moore groped her after offering her a ride home in the 1970s.

“I was terrified. He was also trying to pull my shirt off. I thought he was going to rape me,” said Nelson, who was 16 at the time of the alleged incident.

Attorney Gloria Allred also held up a yearbook, which she said was signed by Moore, with the inscription, “To a sweeter more beautiful girl I could not say, ‘Merry Christmas’ Christmas 1977. Love, Roy Moore. D.A. 12-22-77. Olde Hickory House.”

Moore responded to the latest accusation on Monday saying, “I can tell you without hesitation, this is absolutely false. I never did what she said I did. I don’t even know the woman. I don’t know anything about her.”

“I don’t even know where the restaurant is or was,” he added. “This is a political maneuver. It has nothing to do with reality. It’s all about politics.”

Moore’s wife Kayla also spoke on his behalf, saying, “I’ve been married to this man for 32 years. We’ve been together for 33 altogether.”

“He has never at one time lifted a finger to me. He is the most gentle, most kind man that I have ever known in my life. He’s godly and everybody in this community knows it,” Kayla said. “These things are false. It’s the ugliest politics that I’ve ever been in in my life.”

She also shared a Facebook post indicating the Old Hickory House restaurant opened in 2001.

Townhall editor Guy Benson inquired with the Gadsen city government to determine if the restaurant ever existed, but he ran into a roadblock when the city notified him that online records only go back to 2006.

 

The Old Hickory House Bar-B-Que is no longer open, according to YellowPages.com, and the number listed is no longer in service. Business directory website Manta indicated a restaurant of the same name “was established” in 2001, with the same address and phone number.

AL.com reporter William Thornton tweeted that, according to the 1978 Gadsden city directory, a restaurant named The Olde Hickory House existed in 1977.

 

While Graham stands ready to condemn Moore based on the allegations against the candidate, the South Carolinian arrived in New Jersey last month to testify as a character witness at Menendez’s corruption trail.

“I’ve come up here to let the court know that of all the people that dealt with in the Senate, Bob is a very honest, honorable guy,” Graham said, upon arriving at the court house.

“If Bob gives you his word he keeps it no matter what the pressures are, and I always found him to be a very honest and honorable guy,” the senator added. “A handshake from Bob is enough.”

Menendez faces an 18 count indictment including six counts of bribery, three counts of honest services fraud, one count of conspiracy, one count of interstate travel to carry out bribery and one count of making false statements on a congressional financial disclosure to conceal the crimes.

As of Tuesday, the jury had not been able to reach a verdict after roughly one week of deliberation.

“Menendez, 63, accepted an abundance of campaign donations, gifts and vacations from Salomon Melgen, a Florida ophthalmologist. In return, Menendez used his position to lobby on behalf of Melgen’s business interests, according to prosecutors,” Fox News reported.

Melgen allegedly directed more than $750,000 in campaign contributions to Menendez, who is currently in serving in his second term in senate.

The New York Daily News reported that Justice Department attorneys told the judge overseeing the case early in the proceedings, “specific, corroborated allegations that defendants Menendez and Melgen had sex with underage prostitutes in the Dominican Republic.”

LifeZette added, that “In an email exchange posted on Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a Spanish-speaking female said she’d attended sex parties with Menendez and Melgen in the Dominican Republic and that Menendez ‘likes the youngest and newest girls.’”

These allegations regarding illicit sex ultimately were not included in the charges brought.

 

What is readily apparent is that Graham is more than willing to give Menendez the benefit of innocent until proven guilty, but is unwilling to do the same for Moore.

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