Moore Attacks Accusers; Moore Attacks GOP Establishment; Conway Accused of Breaking Law
SANCHEZ: Embattled Senate candidate Roy Moore is now going on the offensive against his accusers. In his tweet the controversial Senate candidate says: Good morning, Alabama, day eight of Attorney Gloria Allred's refusal to turn over the yearbook for third party examination. Allred is the attorney for a woman named Beverly Young Nelson, who says that Moore signed her yearbook and then tried to push her head into his lap when the 16-year-old. During an interview on conservative radio, Moore said this about his two main accusers, including one who says she was just 14 years old at the time.</s>ROY MOORE (R), ALABAMA SENATE CANDIDATE: I did not know these two women. I did not --</s>HOST: So you definitely didn't know Beverly Nelson?</s>MOORE: I didn't know Beverly Nelson, and I didn't know --</s>HOST: Leigh Corfman.</s>MOORE: Leigh Corfman. And I never dated underage women and I never engaged with sexual misconduct with anybody. I mean, you have to understand, I was deputy district attorney and then circuit judge. I go by the law. You don't -- it's very hypocritical. You know, there's law and you enforce it and then you go and violate it. You just don't do that, and I didn't do that. And that's what is being alleged. It's very hurtful.</s>SANCHEZ: Congressional correspondent Sunlen Serfaty is in Washington. Sunlen, Roy Moore is not backing down. In fact, he's getting more aggressive against his accusers at the days go on. He says he's considering legal action. What do you we know about that?</s>SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Well, he's very, very vague on this point, Boris. We only know what he said on that radio show, which frankly wasn't backed up by much of anything at all. He just said that he and his advisers are essentially gathering information right now. They're looking for any evidence to potentially take legal action against the accusers. And, of course, we also know he's threatened to take legal action against "The Washington Post" who first broke this story. But he wouldn't address any specifics at all, and frankly, not sure exactly how serious that claim is -- Boris.</s>SANCHEZ: Now, Sunlen, on that conservative radio show, Moore alluded to a conspiracy. What exactly did he say?</s>SERFATY: That's right. This is one of the eyebrow-raising moments of the interview. Judge Moore saying that the bombshell allegations were dropped when he was ahead in the polls. Here's what he had to say.</s>MOORE: This was a complete shock out of left field. And it came the day after they said I was 11 points ahead.</s>HOST: Ahead, ahead.</s>MOORE: And this is shock to the Democrats. They saw a seat in Alabama that they could take, and they had the support of someone in the Washington establishment that doesn't really care. They want who they can handle.</s>SERFATY: And keep in mind, this was a comfort zone of force for Judge Moore, exactly where he likes to be arguing about the establishment and really attempting to refrain these allegations as something that was cooked up by his political enemies here against him. So, no doubt, Boris, intended to fire up his base.</s>SANCHEZ: All right. Sunlen Serfaty, thank you so much for the reporting and happy Thanksgiving as well. Once again Kellyanne Conway is in trouble over endorsements. She's being accused of breaking the law that says that members of administration can't advocate for or against a specific candidate, the Hatch Act. Here's the interview from Fox News that's in question. You be the judge.</s>KELLYANNE CONWAY, WHITE HOUSE COUNSELOR: Doug Jones in Alabama -- folks, don't be fooled. He'll be a vote against tax cuts. He's weak on crime, weak on borders. He's strong on raising your taxes. He's terrible for property owners.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, vote Roy Moore?</s>CONWAY: I'm telling you that we want the votes in the Senate to get this tax -- this tax bill through.</s>SANCHEZ: Here's the White House response to the allegation that she violated the Hatch Act. Quote: Ms. Conway did not advocate for or against the election of a candidate and specifically declined to encourage Alabamans to vote a certain way. Joining me now from Washington, CNN justice reporter Laura Jarrett. Laura, happy Thanksgiving. Please help us understand how this came up and take us through both sides of the argument.</s>LAURA JARRETT, CNN JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, happy Thanksgiving, Boris. So, the former head of the Office of Government Ethics Walter Shaub, filed a complaint against Kellyanne Conway yesterday, essentially saying she has violated a federal law by endorsing a candidate for office. Now, you notice she stopped short of actually endorsing Moore, but she did lay out all the reasons why one would want to vote for Moore because she's against, of course, the Democratic candidate Doug Jones. But the White House is pushing back here and saying she didn't do anything wrong, she didn't formally endorse Moore and so she should not be sanctioned.</s>SANCHEZ: Now, Kellyanne Conway was under fire for the same kind of thing in February, but talking about a clothing. Listen to this.</s>CONWAY: Go buy Ivanka's stuff is what I would tell you. I'm going to get -- I hate shopping, I'm going to go get some myself today. It's a wonderful line. I own some of it. I fully -- I'm going to give a free commercial here, go buy it today, everybody. You can find it online.</s>SANCHEZ: She's talking about Ivanka Trump's fashion line. What was the decision then, and are these cases any different?</s>JARRETT: Right, so two different federal laws, but they both sort of go to the same thing. The Hatch Act violation here has to do with endorsing a candidate. In that situation, it was that she was endorsing a product. And the federal ethic laws on the books explicitly say that public employees are not allowed to do that. So -- but they're both related to the scope of what a public employee can do in their capacity as an executive branch official. And in the ethics case, you'll remember the White House said they'd counsel her. Sean Spicer came out and said that she had been dealt with, but she did not face any discipline. And we'll have to wait and see whether she faces any in this case, Boris.</s>SANCHEZ: Yes, we should point out that in terms of enforcing the discipline, if the Hatch Act is violated, that has to come from the president himself. So, we'll see if Donald Trump weighs in on this. Laura Jarrett, we have to leave it there. Thank you.</s>JARRETT: Thanks, Boris.</s>SANCHEZ: Facebook now making a big announcement about your accounts and whether you interacted with Russian trolls during the election. Plus, the war of words escalating between the president and the father of one of those UCLA players that was imprisoned in China. Why can't either of them just let it go? And new today, tens of thousands of names purged from the FBI's background check system when it comes to buying guns. We'll explain why.