In Defense of Judge Roy Moore

The Washington Post in its original November 13th story presented four accusers claiming that Roy Moore, an alleged 40 years earlier, had had inappropriate relationships with them while they were in their teens. So far, four of the eight witnesses have been found to be lying (Gibson, Corfman, Nelson, and Gray) while another, Deason, was an adult at the time.

Deborah Wesson Gibson

Gibson in the original Post story described dating Roy Moore with her mother's consent at age 17 (the Alabama age of consent then, as now, is 16), mentioning that they dated for two to three months during which time he wrote poetry and played his guitar. Moore acknowledges he remembers her, but only as a friend, while also denying that he had ever served her alcohol.

However, what the Post neglected to mention was that Gibson worked on the Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Patrick Murphy (D-FL), and Bill Nelson (D-FL) campaigns as an interpreter. Gibson also posted on a Facebook post by Doug Jones, Moore's opponent, bragging about how she had interpreted for Joe Biden. That is in direct contrast to the misleading claim by the Washington Post in its original story that, "According to campaign reports, none of the women has donated to or worked for Moore’s Democratic opponent, Doug Jones, or his rivals in the Republican primary, including Sen. Luther Strange, whom he defeated this fall in a runoff election."

A PolitiFact article nonetheless continued to dishonestly portray Gibson as a registered Republican and attempted to deny that she had worked in any official capacity for the National Democratic Committee or Doug Jones' campaign based solely on the word of Democrat campaign workers. Furthermore, a cursory examination of FEC data when searching for last name Gibson, state of Florida shows that she donated 23 times to Democrat Bernie Sanders in 2016, amounts totaling over $1,350.

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Leigh Corfman

Corfman is the most important of the original four witnesses because she is the only one to allege an underage relationship below the age of consent, any form of coercion on Moore's part, and any sexual contact other than kissing. As the original Post story notes, "None of the [other] three women say that Moore forced them into any sort of relationship or sexual contact." According to Corfman, Moore sexually enticed her as a minor after driving her to a residence.

However, Corfman has been contradicted in key details about her testimony by her own mother, Nancy Wells (71), who denied her account of having a phone in her bedroom as a teenager, and said, "No, but the phone in the house could get through to her easily." According to the original Post story, Corfman communicated with Roy Moore by talking to him in her bedroom via phone. Nor was this a slip of the tongue. According to the Post, "Corfman described her story consistently in six interviews with The Post."

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New court documents have surfaced showing that Corfman lied about meeting with Judge Moore privately at a court hearing, since it was a custody case involving which of her parents would have custody, meaning she would have been in the courtroom. The documents also show that Corfman went to live with her father in Ohatchee, not her mother in Gadsden as she had claimed. Furthermore, the intersection she claimed Moore picked her up at, Alcott Rd. and Riley St., which she claimed was around the corner from her mother's house, is actually over a mile away from her mother's house and would have been through a major intersection. 

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Corfman's integrity was suspect enough that even the Post in its original reporting quoted her as saying, "There is no one here [in Gadsden] that doesn’t know that I’m not an angel" and mentioned that "She also was concerned that her background — three divorces and a messy financial history — might undermine her credibility." Suspiciously, Corfman deleted her Facebook and LinkedIn pages in an apparent attempt to prevent examination of her political beliefs and background.

Gloria Thacker Deason

Along with Gibson, Deason is the only other witness Moore remembers, although he recalls her as being age 19, not 18. According to the original Post article, Deason was encouraged to date Moore at age 18 by her mother. She recalls a relationship that did not go further than hugging and kissing, lasting several months. Deason claims Moore ordered bottles of wine and cocktails for her even though the legal drinking age was 19.

Moore denies such an account, noting that Alabama was a "dry country" and says he would never serve alcohol to minors. 

Wendy Miller

Miller claims Moore approached her at age 16, attempting to date her, but that she declined because she had a boyfriend.