Mitch McConnell on Roy Moore allegations: “I believe the women”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he believes the four women who have accused Alabama Republican Roy Moore of making sexual advances on them when they were minors are telling the truth.

Moore, a 70-year-old evangelical Christian, is the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate from Alabama; a special election to fill the vacant seat is scheduled for Dec. 12.

“I believe the women, yes,” McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, told reporters Monday, adding that Moore should “step aside.”

His statement marks the highest-level condemnation yet from a senior Republican toward Moore, who’s accused of pursuing — and in one case assaulting — girls in their teens when he was a 30-something assistant district attorney.

READ: What happens now after the Roy Moore molestation allegations? Here are four potential outcomes

Previously, McConnell joined a number of Republicans in Washington who offered their conditional disapproval of the allegations against Moore.

“If these allegations are true, he must step aside,” McConnell previously said, echoing comments from Vice President Mike Pence and fellow Republican senators like Ted Cruz, Lisa Murkowski, and Jeff Flake.

Last week, the Washington Post reported the allegations against Moore, who’s running to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ vacant Senate seat.

READ: Right-wing media has mounted a spectacular defense of Roy Moore

Moore was defiant, calling the allegations “fake news” and threatening to sue the Post, and h’s given no signals that he would drop out of the race.

McConnell said the Republican Party is looking for a write-in candidate to join Moore on the ballot, who legally can’t withdraw from the race because it’s too close to election time.