Trump remains silent on Moore amid GOP urging

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump kept resolutely quiet and out of the fight Wednesday as national Republicans called ever more intensely for Roy Moore to abandon his Alabama campaign for the U.S. Senate and party officials debated a list of options none of them liked.

Trump, who withstood allegations of sexual assault weeks before his own election, repeatedly ducked questions about the fate of the GOP candidate ignoring questions as to whether he would join top congressional leaders in urging Moore to step aside. With Moore's would-be colleagues threatening to expel him should he win and the Republican National Committee and National Republican Senatorial Committee pulling their support, Trump was seen as the best hope for pushing a fellow political rebel from the race.

Instead, Moore, twice removed from his post as state Supreme Court chief justice, confronted Republicans with two damaging potential election outcomes. A victory would saddle GOP senators with a colleague accused of abusing and harassing teenagers, a troubling liability heading into next year's congressional elections, while an upset victory by Democrat Doug Jones would slice the already narrow GOP Senate majority to an unwieldy 51-49.

The party's fraught dilemma is complicated further by the anti-establishment forces that propelled Trump to the White House and Moore to the nomination. Alabama Republicans expressed reluctance to block Moore and enrage his legions of loyal conservative supporters. State GOP leaders highlighted state party rules that could allow them to crack down on Alabama officials who support anyone other than Moore, who is facing multiple allegations of sexual misconduct.

The president backed Moore's unsuccessful rival, Sen. Luther Strange, in the Republican primary. Moore has the backing of Trump's former chief strategist, Steve Bannon. And Bannon's conservative news site, Breitbart, has led the charge in trying to discredit the allegations against Moore. A person close to Bannon said he still was backing Moore's candidacy.

Behind the scenes, aides described Trump as vexed by the Moore issue. He might make an uncomfortable Moore critic: The allegations against the bombastic former judge echo Trump's own political concerns, when he was accused weeks before the 2016 election of more than a dozen instances of sexual harassment. National Republicans, including many of the same now abandoning Moore, withdrew their endorsements or halted their efforts on Trump's behalf at the time.

GOP officials cautioned the actions of Washington Republicans, including the president, were unlikely to affect Moore's decision-making -- and any moves against him could backfire. One person familiar with the president's thinking said Trump has been slow to call for Moore to exit the race in part because he risked embarrassment if, as expected, Moore defied him. Officials said the Trump White House signed off on the RNC's decision to cut ties with Moore.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Trump had been involved in dealing with the Moore situation "in great detail" during his Asia trip. McConnell, in all-out political warfare with Moore, said he spoke about Moore to the president, Vice President Mike Pence and White House chief of staff John Kelly, with more conversations planned.

"He's obviously not fit to be in the United States Senate, and we've looked at all the options to try to prevent that from happening," McConnell said.

, who has encouraged Attorney General Jeff Sessions to mount a write-in campaign. "This close to election, it's a complicated matter."

Two women by name have said Moore molested them in the 1970s when one was 14 and the other 16 and he was a local deputy district attorney, and three others have said he pursued romantic relationships with them around the same time.

But for all the Washington machinations, in Alabama, then state party only tightened its embrace of Moore.

Alabama Republican Party officials convened by phone late Wednesday to discuss the path forward for Moore. The 21-member party steering committee could vote to revoke Moore's GOP nomination and ask election officials to ignore ballots cast for him Election Day, but that would risk a lawsuit and backlash from Moore supporters. The party has little interest in alienating Moore's followers a year before elections in which the governor's office and entire state legislature will be in play.

A regional GOP committee representing the state's 5th congressional district approved a new resolution of support for Moore and asked the state GOP to do the same.

"We felt like our candidate was being attacked, the Republican nominee that the people of Alabama voted for. We just kind of wanted to affirm that we are still supporting our candidate," said Noah Wahl, the Limestone County GOP chairman.

It's already too late to remove Moore's name from the ballot. That leaves the state party with limited options.

According to internal polling conducted by the Senate GOP campaign arm and reviewed by The Associated Press, Moore trails Democrat Doug Jones by 12 points -- 39 percent to 51 percent -- in the survey conducted on Sunday and Monday. That's a dramatic downward shift for Moore, who led by 9 points the week before in the National Republican Senatorial Committee's internal numbers.

Republican allies of the administration expressed concern about Trump's silence, warning that the bombastic Moore will be in the news for weeks, as will the president's refusal to weigh in on the situation.

Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity joined the GOP critics during his show Tuesday evening, calling on Moore to explain "inconsistencies" in his response to allegations of child molestation or exit the Alabama race.

"We deserve answers -- consistent answers -- and truth," said Hannity, who is generally among the most reliable and consistent media supporters of President Trump and the conservative cause.

A spokesman for GOP Gov. Kay Ivey reiterated that she would not postpone the election.

Peoples reported from Birmingham, Alabama. AP reporters Alan Fram, Andrew Taylor and Matthew Daly in Washington, Jay Reeves in Birmingham, Alabama, and Kimberly Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama contributed to this report.