Roy Moore is still asking for donations
Former Republican U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore, who lost a special election in Alabama last month to Democratic Sen. Doug Jones, is still soliciting campaign contributions, CBS affiliate WHNT-TV reports.
Moore lost to Jones in a December 12 upset amid allegations that he had sexually assaulted teenagers when he was in his early 30s. Moore denied the allegations and ended his campaign with $49,000 in the bank.
Since then, Moore has repeatedly asked supporters for funds. In the aftermath of the election, he solicited donations for an "election integrity program" that he said would investigate allegations of voter fraud. Moore has yet to concede to Jones despite the fact that Jones is now a senator.
Moore said his "election integrity program" was looking to raise $75,000 and later claimed that it had raised over $65,000. In the last week, he's also sent out seven emails to supporters asking that they donate to legal defense fund to "stop the forces of evil." He said the goal was to raise $250,000 for that effort, and has so far raised $16,330.
Moore, a former chief justice of Alabama's supreme court, is currently the subject of a defamation suit filed by one of his accusers. In one email, Moore says that money raised for his legal defense fund will go "directly towards paying for legal fees and other expenses necessary for the prosecution and defense of the false and malicious attacks on my wife, family, and me - and stopping the establishment elite`s dirty election schemes once and for all."
Jones significantly outraised and outspent Moore, according to disclosure forms. The Democrat raised $22 million in what was seen as a long-shot bid for the senate seat, and spent $20 million on the race.