A woman who claims she dated Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore when she was 17 says she has evidence proving their relationship.
Debbie Wesson Gibson told The Washington Post that Moore accused her of being a liar after she said the two were openly dating in 1981 when she was a senior at Etowah High School in Attalla, Ala., and he was 34.
“Roy Moore made an egregious mistake to attack that one thing — my integrity,” said Gibson, who now is 54 and living in Florida.
Moore has been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women dating back to the 1970s.
Gibson said she remembered Moore had given her a card at her high school graduation ceremony with a message written in cursive that read: “Happy graduation Debbie, I wanted to give you this card myself. I know that you’ll be a success in anything you do. Roy.”
She wrote below the inscription: “Roy Moore inspires me because he is such a successful man himself. Also, he is about the only person I know of who seriously believes in me. I appreciate that. He’s got to be one of the nicest people I know.”
She said Moore’s handwritten note reminded her of the tale told by another accuser, Beverly Young Nelson, who had revealed at a news conference a high school yearbook that Moore signed.
Gibson told The Post that there were other indications of their relationship detailed in her scrapbook. There were writings that said “$10, card” from “Roy S. Moore,” and the time they went on their first date.
“Wednesday night, 3-4-81. Roy S. Moore and I went out for the first time. We went out to eat at Catfish Cabin in Albertville. I had a great time,” Gibson wrote.
She previously told the newspaper that she and Moore dated for a couple of months. She also claimed Moore kissed her in his bedroom and by a pool at a local country club.
Gibson also helped Moore during his circuit judge campaign in 1982 and exchanged Christmas cards with his family. She said she held Moore “in high esteem,” but after watching him at a rally last week, she decided to support his accusers rather than keep quiet.
“At 34 minutes and 56 seconds into the video, he says, unequivocally, I did not know any of them,” she told the paper. “In that moment, it changed my perspective. I knew he was a liar.”
Moore, who is running against Democrat Doug Jones in the Dec. 12 special election, has denied the sexual misconduct allegations during his campaign.
President Donald Trump on Monday fully endorsed Roy Moore, acting to back the Alabama Senate candidate after conversations with his former strategist, Stephen K. Bannon, who has advocated Moore’s candidacy.
Trump’s early morning tweets marked his first all-out endorsement of Moore, who has been accused of making unwanted sexual advances on teenage girls. They came after Republican leaders began to back away in recent days from previous threats to expel Moore if he were to win the Dec. 12 election.