'I Don't Know Her,' Roy Moore Says of His Accuser

Woman says he touched her sexually when she was 14
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jan 31, 2022 4:55 PM CST
'I Don't Know Her,' Roy Moore Says of His Accuser
Leigh Corfman walks into court in the Montgomery County Courthouse last Monday.   (Mickey Welsh/The Montgomery Advertiser via AP)

Former US Senate candidate Roy Moore, testifying in a defamation case brought by a woman who said he sexually touched her decades ago when she was 14, maintained Monday that he never met his accuser. "I don’t know her," Moore testified under questioning from his attorney, the AP reports. He disputed Leigh Corfman's account that he molested her at his home after meeting her with her mother at the courthouse. "I never saw Ms. Corfman in Etowah County or any other place," Moore said. At another point, he added: "I never knew her. I never took her to my home."

Corfman came forward during Moore's 2017 campaign, saying Moore sexually touched her in 1979 when she was 14 and he was in his 30s and working as an assistant district attorney in Etowah County. Her account was first reported by the Washington Post. She was one of several women who said Moore pursued relationships with them when they were teens. The allegations roiled Moore's campaign and he lost the race to Doug Jones, who became the first Alabama Democrat elected to the Senate in 25 years. Jones lost the next election to Republican Tommy Tuberville, who now holds the Senate seat. Corfman filed suit that says Moore defamed her by branding her a liar when he denied the accusations.

Moore countersued, claiming Corfman injured his reputation with false allegations meant to hurt him politically. Jurors in the trial are tasked with deciding both claims. While Corfman is seeking only a court ruling that Moore defamed her, Moore's lawyers want money from her. Trying to make a case for compensation, Moore attorney Julian McPhillips read crassly worded emails and social media messages to the Moore campaign in which people called the former state court judge a pedophile and a pervert. Corfman testified on Tuesday that Moore "has done everything possible to damage my veracity, the truth of my words, the statements I have made about his sexual molestation of me at 14."

(More Roy Moore stories.)

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