Embattled Senate candidate Roy Moore (R-AL) responded to Fox News host Sean Hannity's November 14 ultimatum demanding that Moore explain inconsistencies in his public statements regarding reports of sexual assaults or get out of the race. Moore’s bizarre open letter denied reports that he sexually molested teens and blamed the “liberal media” for their “desperate attempt to smear my character and defeat my campaign.”

Hannity immediately defended Moore when the reports first surfaced that he may have had inappropriate contact with young teens. Several major advertisers dropped their ads from Sean Hannity’s primetime Fox News show, Hannity, leading to the host’s November 14 ultimatum demanding answers from Moore.

On November 15, following a press conference with Moore’s campaign manager and attorney who both denied the reports against Moore, Judge Moore wrote an open letter to Sean Hannity posted to Twitter calling the reports “false allegations” and attacking the women who reported him:

Dear Sean:

I am suffering the same treatment other Republicans have had to endure.

A month prior to the general election for U.S. Senate in Alabama, I have been attacked by the Washington Post and other liberal media in a desperate attempt to smear my character and defeat my campaign.

Over the last 40 years I have held several public offices, including Deputy District Attorney, Circuit Judge, and Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. In addition to running five statewide and three country campaigns for public office, I have been involved in two major controversies that attracted nation attention, one about the Ten Commandments and the other the sanctity of marriage.

The Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission, Court of the Judiciary, and Attorney General have investigated, scrutinized, examined and vetted me, not to mention every opposing candidate against whom I have run.

I have been married for almost 33 years to my wife Kayla. We have four children and five granddaughters.

We are in the process of investigating these false allegations to determine their origin and motivation. For instance, we have documented that the most recent accuser, Beverly Nelson, was a part in a divorce action before me in Etowah County Circuit Court in 1999, a matter that apparently caused her no distress at a time that was 18 years closer to the alleged assault. Yet 18 years later, while talking before cameras about the supposed assault, she seemingly could not contain her emotions.

My signature on the order of dismissal in the divorce case was annotated with the letters “D.A.,” representing the initials of my court assistant. Curiously the supposed yearbook inscription is also followed by the same initials- “D.A.” But at that time I was Deputy District Attorney, not district attorney. Those initials as well as the date under the signature block and the printed name of the restaurant are written in a style inconsistent with the rest of the yearbook inscription. The “7’s” in “Christmas 1977” are in a noticeably different script than the “7’s” in the state “12-22-77.” I believe tampering has occurred.

Are we at a stage in American politics in which false allegations can overcome a public record of 40 years, stampede the media and politicians to condemn an innocent man, and potentially impact the outcome of an election of national importance? When allegations of events occurring 40 years ago – and never before mentioned during a 40-year career of public service- are brought out and taken seriously only 30 days before a critical election, we may be in trouble as a country.

I adamantly deny the allegations of Leigh Corfman and Beverly Nelson, did not date underage girls, and have taken steps to begin a civil action for defamation. Because of that, at the direction of counsel, I cannot comment further.

- Roy S. Moore