Beverly Young Nelson, the accuser in a sexual misconduct case against U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore, admitted Friday to adding some notes to a critical piece of evidence in her case against him.
Nelson, who was 16 at the time she says Moore groped her, offered her 1977 yearbook with a signature and inscription from Moore as evidence in the case. However, the news that she wrote some of the words beneath the signature has led Moore supporters to doubt the legitimacy of her claims.
Moore’s campaign told the Associated Press on Friday that Nelson’s admission that she had added the date and location has cast doubt on her entire story.
Nelson maintains that the Alabama candidate signed her yearbook and groped her in the 70s, and is one of at least seven women who’ve claimed that Moore pursued them decades ago.
In a press conference Friday afternoon, Nelson and attorney Gloria Allred presented the findings of forensic document expert Arthur Anthony, which concluded that the signature and the “handwritten notation above the signature” were produced by Moore.
Nelson also spoke during the conference. “I’ve lived in fear of sharing what he did to me until other women came forward. I still have some fear but I refuse to be intimidated into silence or retract anything that I have said.”
After endorsing Moore earlier this week, U.S President Donald Trump doubled down on his support for the Republican candidate during a rally on Friday, urging voters to elect Moore in the upcoming election on Tuesday. The president declared that America “cannot afford” to have a Democrat emerge victorious in Tuesday’s vote.
“Get out and vote for Roy Moore. Do it. Do it,” Trump told the crowd.
“We cannot afford, the future of this country cannot afford to lose the seat,” Trump said, referring to his party’s razor-thin 52-48 advantage in that chamber of Congress.
Moore, embattled by these accusations, faces Democrat Doug Jones in the special election.
With files from the Associated Press.