Jeopardy as dozens of republicans, including the president , make it clear, if the allegations are true, moore must step down. I have a very good team this morning. But first i want to explain exactly what were talking about. Its confusing. A new report from the Washington Post alleges that back in 1979, moore befriended a 14yearold girl, lee corkman, while he was working as a District Attorney in alabama. Cochran says on at least two occasions, the two kissed and on one occasion, he took off her clothes, touched her and encourages her to touch him. At least three other women also allege that moore pursued them while they were just teenagers but none alleged any sexual contact beyond kissing. The Moore Campaign is accuse the post of running a hit piece, saying, quote, it is no surprise with just over four weeks remaining in a race for the u. S. Senate with National Implications that the Democratic Party and the countrys most liberal newspaper would come up with a fabrication of this kind. This garbage is the very definition of fake news and intentional defamation. Well, it can hardly come at a worst time for moore or his party. Polls indicate hes leading doug jones in the special election for Alabama Senate seat and election day is just 32 days away. This morning, White House Press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders issued this statement from air force one. Take a listen. Like most americans, the president believes that we should not allow a mere allegation in this case one from many years ago to destroy a persons life. However, the president also believes that if these allegations are true, judge moore will do the right thing and step aside. This is a lot to take in. Msnbcs Garrett Haake has been gauging reaction on capitol hill. Garrett what are you hearing . Already roy moore was a dicey guy. That many people in the gop were thinking, am i going to have to answer and defend this guy if he actually holds a senate seat . Right, roy moore has been saying incendiary things for the known decade, sort of the known commodity. A lot of republicans here on capitol hill did not want to see him in the u. S. Senate seat. Almost every republican on capitol hill backed Luther Strange whos been sitting in that seat since Jeff Sessions was called up to the justice department. So they wanted another guy. They may still be stuck with roy moore, but i have not seen up here any reaction quite so swift as republican senators trying to distance themselves from roy moore like we saw yesterday. Take a listen. These allegations are true, roy moore should step aside. If there is any shred of truth to these stories, he ought to step aside. If the allegations that are being made are true, then yes. Obviously, what ive heard of them, again, very serious. Its very disturbing what ive read about and ill have more to say about it im sure after i learn more. So stephanie, you hear a lot of that due process caveat, saying if these allegationings are true. Its not clear what beyond the on the record interviews with these women might convince them that thats the case. But, again, that all within essentially an hour and a half of this story dropping. You had all those senators saying they want to be as far away from this as possible. Okay, but do they . Because if if if, this things not going to come to court. The Washington Post story has, what is it, 30 people backing up, and this woman going on the record with her name. What other if are they looking for . Yes, i mean its a good question, stephanie. The only senator who dispensed with that sort of if then construction was john mccain who came right out with a paper statement right after this happened saying this is inappropriate, hes not fit to serve here. There was no ifs ands or buts about it. Look, republicans are in a dicey spot here. When you look at the polls in alabama, roy moore has a pretty comfortable lead. The average of the polls there has him up about eight points. I think the most recent poll i saw in alabama had him up by Something Like is 11. There just arent enough for his opponent to win on a democratic surge of his own. What happens now if roy moore wins this race still, which he very well could. His campaign is leaning into this, slamming the paper, calling it depham toeshgs even using these accusations to raise money for his campaign. So theres no indication that moores getting out of this. He could very well end up being a u. S. Senator. I cant even. All right, i got to bring in nbcs von hilliard who has made his way to the city of gadsen, alabama. Exactly what garrett was leading us into. When you talk to republicans in washington, theyve said a lot of quick things distancing themselves from roy moore but theyre in alabama. It almost seems like his fellow republicans are doubling down. Exactly, stephanie. Its been more than 25 year since a democrat has actually won a senate seat here in alabama. And just having conversations, i just got off the phone with trumps former Alabama Campaign chairman perry hooper who actually endorsed, hes one of these individuals, endorsed strange for the senate. I had the conversation with him this morning and i said what now, where does this go from here, do you believe the women, and this is what he said. I do not believe the women. I dont know exactly because i saw the same thing, same accusations made when President Trump was running. I dont like to see it. I think its false. But one way to get down to it is just to require them to take a polygraph test. Perry hoopers not the only one expressing skepticism. We have a couple others. Marion county gop chair david hall said yesterday, i really dont see the relevance of did. He was 32. She was supposedly 14. Riley sibenhour, geneva county, said, other than an underaged person, he didnt really force himself. This other person, quote, i wouldnt want to vote for doug. Im not saying what he did was good. This is pretty much kind of the sentiments. Were going to have one other one i think we want to pull up on the screen. This was jim ziegler, the Alabama State auditor, he said yesterday to the washington examiner, he said, quote, take joseph and mary. Mary was a teenager and jo sketch was an adult carpenter. They became parents of jesus. Theres just nothing immoral or illegal here. Maybe just a little bit unusual. As garrett was attesting to, ray moore is a known commodity around here. This man was removed as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court twice. I was here a couple weeks ago after he beat Luther Strange in this runoff and was in this deli talking with dozens of people. I said, you said repeatedly controversial statements suggesting a muslim shouldnt be in congress, suggesting homosexual acts should be illegal. You still support roy moore . They said, if it means beating a democrat, well do just that. Well vote for roy moore. Well see if that sentiment holds up. The first, one made a statement, the only thing there is being with someone underage. Thats okay, that the fact she was underage, well just put that aside . No, thats a big issue. The second point id like to make where he said the same thing happened to trump. I need to read something, you ready . I did try and f her. She was married. I moved in on her like a bitch. I couldnt get there and she was married. Then all a sudden, i see her, now shes got these big phony tits and everything. She totally changed her look. Ive got to get some tick tacks just in case i start ticking her. You know im automatically attracted to beautiful. I just kissing them. Its like a magnet. Just kiss. I dont even wait. When youre a star, they let you do it, you can do anything. And you know the next line, grab them by the blank. No one did that to President Trump. Those are his words. I want to bring in my panel. Jason johnson, politics editor at the root. Com and professor at Morgan State University and msnbc political contributor. Matt well, is editor at large at reason, a libertarian monthly magazine. And steve core naek,kornacki, m political correspondent. Matt, heres what blows my mind. Roy moore and his squad are raising money off of this. Sure. What goes on in the great state of alabama . Every single day that roy moore is still in the news and still isnt resigning is a really, really bad day for the National Republican party here. Precisely because of all those quotes we just read from the alabama republicans who are supporting them. Everyone else in the country is reading this and saying you cant be serious, that theres nothing immoral about hitting on a 14 not just hitting on a 14yearold the only issue is she was under age, what . The only issue is you put your arm around her and say, hey, mom, go in the courthouse, ill watch her for you, cool. A mother at a custody hearing. Custody hearing. So the Republican Party, as steve im sure about to tell you, theyre already wearing trump badly this week. It wasnt a good week everywhere. People are running against trump democrat. So democrats are going to be running against everywhere. Not just in alabama. But everywhere against roy moore. The Republican Party right now is a party that doesnt have room for someone like jeff flake whos a very decent guy, hes a traditional republican, hes interested in fiscal conservativism, hes proimmigration. No, we dont like him, but we like this culture war, lawless troll, which roy moore has been his whole life, even before he was heavily petting 14yearolds in the woods. Explain to me why this argument works. I heard steve bannon go after jeff flake, saying, please, hes a guy who let an unlimited amount of immigrants in. There was never an unlimited amount of immigrants, a, and b, steve bannon made the same point we heard earlier, the same thing happened to trump with the access Hollywood Tape as happening to roy moore. What happened to President Trump was true. Right. He just won in spite of it. Nothing happened to President Trump other than he got elected. He assaulted women. His first wife accused him of assaulting her. Heres the other thing, earlier this year you have the governor of alabama step down for having an affair. He literally stepped down for having an affair. Apparently having an affair with a 40somethingyearold woman as an adult that cost you your job, but trolling for dates at custody hearings in the 70s is something people as a d. A. As a d. A. , is something that people will defend you for. It is disgusting. I will tell you this. I was talking to one of our root reporters based in alabama, i said, look what are you hearing. He said, people are still going to support the guy. The only way that doug jones ends up possibly making this competitive is if the large turnout you saw for democrats in places like birmingham or some of those other upset elections ends up changing the dynamic. More often than not, the republicans have geenfort and this guy. Hes not going to drop out so walk me through the politics. Look, republicans would love him to drop out. This is a guy who had to get dragged off the state Supreme Court twice. Hes not going willingly. We know that. That means he will appear on the ballot as the republican candidate for u. S. Senate in alabama in december. But there are two things to keep in mind here. Number one is yes, alabamas a very republican state. Yes, you have to go back to the early 90s to find a democrat winning a senate race and yes, they typically win these by 25 to 30 points but the polling you showed a few minutes ago already shows this is the most Competitive Senate race alabama has had in a generation. And is entirely because of roy moore and all of the baggage he brought to the race before these allegations. Keep this in mind, roy moore last ran for office in alabama in 2012 for chief justice. Its a statewide election in alabama. On that same day, mitt romney, the republican candidate for president , got 62 of the vote in alabama. Absolute landslide. Roy moore running statewide same day, same ballot, 51 . He barely got a majority. He barely won that job. Thats because of all of the baggage he brought before this. I would say it is very possible in a special election for the u. S. Senate. I know a federal office is different than a statewide office like chief justice. I would say its very possible that doug jones, the democrat, could beat roy moore on the strength of if you want to say strength, of these allegations coming out of roy moore now. Given all of the baggage he brought before this. Its certainly possible given all the dynamic hess put out there. That moore could survive, but he does not have, i think, as much of a margin for error by far as a republican typically does in alabama. Other wild card, you had all those quotes from republican senators. The one that jumpps out at me is Luther Strange. The appointed incumbent senator in alabama who lost the republican runoff. He said, im disgusted by this and i will have more to say. And the question here is this, when he has more to say, is he going to say republicans, if youre as disgusted as me, you write my name in, in december. If he steps forward and says that, a possibility right now, if he steps forward and says that, that changes the math completely. I do not believe Luther Strange would win as a writein candidate because probably half of the Republican Party will vote for moore anyway. Will he split the Republican Party in a way that alters the math, i think that would be very possible if he steps forward and does that. Okay, but am i wrong then . I realize youre saying lets just focus on the race. Am i wrong to try to really look at this . On one hand, you have people saying if, if, if. On the other, youve got defenders in alabama who have actually said, well, look at the bible, jo sketch was a grown man, and mary was a teenager. Last i checked, she was a virgin, it was divine intervention, immaculate conception. That is a ridiculous claim. Its actually a massive insult to people of faith. Exactly. And, again, theyre going to be wearing this all over the country. This is why everyone on capitol hill is freaking out. But jeff flake for are they freaking out . Im tired of hearing theyre freaking out. Where . Tough words. Lets see you do something. Well, i mean, theyre freaking out for themselves. What can they do . Right . Jeff flake previously prior to all of this said we shouldnt this party shouldnt back roy moore okay, heres what they can do, they can say maybe this happened 40 years ago but this is the final straw. Right. Because this aint a one off for roy moore. Im pretty sure this weekend he said that transgenders have no rights. If we want to go through the roy moore play list, the best of, this is just number 462 of things that traditional conservatives might be appalled by. Look, roy moores statements are basically like Steve Bannons diary if you read it out loud. Every sickle rangle racist thin could come up with. And i agree, look, he may not have the margin of error, you know, that other republicans have but the margin was 18 years, you know, 40 years ago and people dont have a problem with that. If this hit a week before the election, i think he could be done. I dont think with 33 days where hes going to have explanations, hes going to have people defending him, is he necessarily going to lose the race. Its 5248 in the senate. Senate republicans including some people we saw mike lee was going to host a fundraiser for moore. A constitutional conservative. Roy moore, a lawless jurist. Was going to host a fundraiser with rand paul on it because theyre all obsessed with maintaining that majority. So that they can get their judges. This is a degradation of their own sense of responsibility. Im tired of the argument. How about your daughters. How about your humanity. President trump may be in vietnam but its still america first. This morning, in front of business leaders, the president criticized International Trade agreements and slammed his own predecessors for supporting them. From this day forward, we will compete on a fair and equal basis. We are not going to let the United States be taken advantage of anymore. Nbcs Peter Alexander is live in vietnam. Peter, President Trump and president putin were supposed to meet today. What happened . Yes, actually, just a moment ago, we saw pictures we can play for you. This is the president s, putin and trump, shooting hands here at the asia pacific cooperation summit. They stood side by side for whats described as the class photo, the family photo of sorts between World Leaders here. This is notable because just a couple of days ago we had heard from the president as he was flying to asia suggesting that the two men would meet. Today, we heard from Sarah Huckabee sanders the president s press secretary saying there was no formal meeting on the schedule, blaming scheduling conflicts of sorts. She did say they would cross paths. Weve now seen thats taken place. Well see if the two of them do meet at any greater length after dinner or perhaps tomorrow as the president wraps up this summit here. Among the topics theyll focus on, if they do meet, certainly north korea, syria, with the new reports of the u. S. And russia have neared a deal to resolve the syrian civil war. There have been big differences over the future of bashar al assad. Notably, though, the president today was strongness language, as you just played, specifically on the issue of trade. This is the first time the president is in this region after saying the u. S. Will not be parent of any tpp, transpacific partnership, International Trade deal, saying he doesnt want multilateral deals but wo