Even as more and more women came forward to accuse former Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore of sexual misconduct, right-wing news website Breitbart remained steadfast in casting doubt on the accusations.
Now the editor-in-chief of Breitbart is admitting that he suspected there was at least some truth to the accusations — but that the paper supported Moore anyway so that President Donald Trump wouldn't be put under scrutiny for his own questionable past.
"I think they want to create a standard where President Trump either from past or future accusations, will not be able to match whatever standard is now in place for who can be a United States senator," Alex Marlow, Breitbart's editor-in-chief, told CNN. "Based off not any sort of conviction or any sort of admission of guilt, but based off of purely allegations."
He added, "I think that's the playbook here. And I think it's part of the reason why it was so important for Breitbart to continue our coverage of the way we covered it ... and for Steve [Bannon] in particular to hold the line the way he did for — I think part of it is because it's not just about Judge Moore, it is not even just about establishment, anti-establishment. It's about what's coming next for President Trump."
Despite carrying Moore's water, however, Marlow admitted that Leigh Corfman — one of the women who accused Moore of sexual misconduct when she was underage — had "a lot of credibility." He also claimed that The Washington Post had reported "a bunch of far, far, far lesser accusations immediately rose my suspicion that they were trying to set narrative more than they were just trying to report the story."
Marlow seems to be on an apology-of-sorts tour since Moore's upset defeat at the hands of Democratic candidate Doug Jones in the Alabama special election. On the Friday after the election, Marlow was interviewed by Sirius XM during which he admitted that Moore was a "terrible" and "horrible" candidate but that Breitbart had "no option" but to defend him due to their loyalty to Trump.
He added, "There was never any reason to cave unless you have a... unless you would like President Trump to get removed from office. And if not even removed from office, at least have massive distractions from his agenda so that we never accomplish anything for the remainder of the president's term."
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