The attorney and campaign chair for Roy Moore gave a 10-minute press conference Wednesday in which they challenged the authenticity of Moore's signature in the yearbook that backs up Beverly Young Nelson's allegations against Moore.
Speaking from Alabama Republican Party headquarters in Hoover, Alabama, attorney Phillip L. Jauregui cited a handwriting expert retained by the campaign as he insisted that the signature inside Nelson’s yearbook was false.
"Look at the sevens," he said, referring to two sets of the numbers in the note written to Nelson, which said, "To a sweeter more beautiful girl I could not say Merry Christmas. Christmas 1977. Love, Roy Moore, D.A. 12-22-77 Olde Hickory House."
Jauregui and campaign chair Bill Armistead argued that Moore’s signature had actually been forged from court documents. They said Moore’s onetime assistant signed court documents with Moore’s name and her own initials — “D.A.” — to indicate that she’d done it.
At the time that Moore is alleged to have sexually assaulted Nelson, Moore was an assistant district attorney of Etowah County, although Nelson says he identified himself as "the district attorney" to her the night of the alleged incident, the Daily Beast reported.
“I am the district attorney of Etowah County,” Nelson said he told her. “If you tell anyone about this, no one will believe you.”
Moore also presided over Nelson’s 1999 divorce proceedings, said Jauregui. They say that contradicts her claim that she had neither seen nor had any contact with Moore after the alleged assault.
Moore’s lawyer added that he had never seen Moore “act remotely inappropriate” toward any women.
A number of prominent Republicans have parted ways with Moore since the allegations began to surface, including Vice President Mike Pence. Neither Jauregui nor Armistead took questions from reporters before retreating back inside Alabama GOP headquarters.
Moore, who was rumored to have been banned from a mall, according to a New Yorker piece, on Wednesday tweeted that he represented "everything the Washington Elite hate," claiming the "Washington Elite" will "do whatever it takes to stop us."
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