Trump won’t campaign in Alabama for Roy Moore, White House spokeswoman says

President Trump, speaking to reporters on Thanksgiving from his private club in Palm Beach, Fla., will not campaign in Alabama for Roy Moore, the Republican nominee in the Senate race there. (Alex Brandon/AP)

President Trump will not travel to Alabama to campaign for Roy Moore ahead of the Dec. 12 special Senate election there, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Monday.

Trump has sought to bolster Moore’s candidacy in recent days by warning that his Democratic opponent, Doug Jones, would be a “disaster” for Alabama, casting him as “a puppet” of Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

But Trump “is not planning any trip to Alabama at this time,” Sanders said, adding that the president's schedule will not permit him to make a trip before the election. Moore, the Republican nominee, has been accused of making unwanted sexual advances on teenagers while he was in his 30s.

Speaking to reporters last week, Trump held open the possibility that he would campaign for Moore, saying he would reach a decision soon.

On Sunday, Trump took to Twitter, writing: “The last thing we need in Alabama and the U.S. Senate is a Schumer/Pelosi puppet who is WEAK on Crime, WEAK on the Border, Bad for our Military and our great Vets, Bad for our 2nd Amendment, AND WANTS TO RAISES TAXES TO THE SKY. Jones would be a disaster!”

He followed up with another tweet in which he asserted that Moore’s Republican rival, Luther Strange, had “shot way up in the polls” after Trump endorsed him.

“Can’t let Schumer/Pelosi win this race,” Trump wrote. “Liberal Jones would be BAD!”