The attorney representing a woman who has accused Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore of sexual assault said Tuesday she’ll hand over a key piece of evidence for third-party examination on the condition that the Senate holds a hearing over the accusations against Moore.
Moore’s attorney, Phillip Jauregui, requested earlier this month that Gloria Allred’s legal team turn over a late-1970s yearbook from Beverly Young Nelson to a neutral party for examination. The yearbook appears to show an inscription with Moore’s signature which calls Nelson, who is now 56, “a beautiful girl,” and is signed off with “Love, Roy Moore D.A.” The Senate candidate’s team has cast doubt on the signature’s authenticity.
Allred told CNN’s “New Day” Tuesday that her team “would be very happy to turn the yearbook over” to a neutral party if the Senate requests it and Moore testifies under oath. She has previously called on the Senate to hold a hearing on Moore and said earlier this month she would turn over the yearbook to an expert on that condition.
“We immediately said that if the United States Select Committee on Ethics and/or the United States Senate Judiciary Committee would hold a hearing, we would be very happy to turn the yearbook over to have it examined by an independent (party),” Allred told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota.
Asked why a Senate committee would have to be the entity requesting the document even though Moore is not a senator, Allred said that the Senate is fully capable of holding hearings on the issue prior to the Alabama election, which takes place next month.
“I wrote a letter to both committees two weeks ago asking them to hold a hearing. You’re right. He’s not yet a United States senator. He may never be a United States senator,” she said.
She added that members of Congress have told her “if the committees wanted to have a hearing now even before he’s elected, or even if he’s never elected but is a candidate, they could do so.”
“It’s politics,” she added. “They can hold a hearing if they want to talk about whether a hangnail was caused by NAFTA.”