In an open letter published by AL.com on Tuesday evening, Leigh Corfman, who accused Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore of molesting her when she was just 14 and he was 32, demanded that Moore stop calling her a liar and end his “smears and false denials.”
Corfman told the Washington Post earlier this month that in 1979, Moore picked her up and brought her to his house, where he stripped to his underwear and removed her clothes. He then touched her over her bra and underwear and placed her hand over his underwear.
Other women have also alleged that Moore pursued sexual encounters with them when they were teenagers and he was in his early 30s.
According to AL.com, at a campaign stop on Monday, Moore called the allegations "completely false."
"I don't know any of [the women]," he said.
In an open letter, Corfman disputed Moore’s claim that the story was fabricated to damage his campaign.
“When the Washington Post approached me about what you did to me as a child, I told them what happened, just as I had told family and friends years before. I stand by every word,” Corfman wrote. “You responded by denying the truth. You told the world that you didn't even know me. Others in recent days have had the decency to acknowledge their hurtful actions and apologize for similar behavior, but not you.”
Corfman wrote that she decided to do a television interview “so that people could judge for themselves whether I was telling the truth.”
In response, she said, Moore sent spokesmen “to call me a liar. Day after day.”
“Finally, last night, you did the dirty work yourself. You called me malicious, and you questioned my motivation in going public,” she continued. “I explained my motivation on the 'Today' show. I said that this is not political for me, this is personal. As a 14-year-old, I did not deserve to have you, a 32-year-old, prey on me. I sat quietly for too long, out of concern for my family. No more.”
Corfman denied claims made about her motives by some Moore supporters.
“I am not getting paid for speaking up. I am not getting rewarded from your political opponents,” she said. “What I am getting is stronger by refusing to blame myself and speaking the truth out loud.”
She said the “barrage of attacks” made by the campaign initially “seemed petty so I did not respond.”
“But when you personally denounced me last night and called me slanderous names, I decided that I am done being silent,” Corfman wrote. “What you did to me when I was 14 years old should be revolting to every person of good morals. But now you are attacking my honesty and integrity. Where does your immorality end?”
She told the candidate that “I demand that you stop calling me a liar and attacking my character.”
“Your smears and false denials, and those of others who repeat and embellish them, are defamatory and damaging to me and my family,” she concluded. “I am telling the truth, and you should have the decency to admit it and apologize.”
Moore faces Democrat Doug Jones in Alabama’s special election on Dec. 12.
