ET 
 
 White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday that President Trump believes the allegations of sexual misconduct and sexual assault against Alabama GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore are "very troubling and should be taken seriously" but stopped short of calling on him to step aside as other national Republican leaders have. "He thinks that the people of Alabama should make the decision on who their next senator should be," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, declining to clarify whether Trump continued to back Moore. The reporting of allegations began one week ago when the Washington Post spoke to a woman, Leigh Corfman, who said that when she was 14 and Moore was in his 30s and then a local assistant district attorney, he pursued her romantically and initiated sexual contact with her. "There is a sharp policy contrast between Judge Moore, a conservative Republican who supports President Trump, and the liberal Democrat who will fight and thwart the agenda of our president. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.; National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Cory Gardner, R-Colo.; and other top Republicans have said they believe the women making the allegations against Moore are credible and that Moore should step aside.  Alabama Republican Party Chairman Terry Lathan today issued a statement saying the state party supports former Chief Justice Roy Moore and trusts voters to make the "ultimate decision" in the Dec. 12 U.S. Senate election. Thursday's statement continues: 
 
 "Judge Moore has vehemently denied the allegations made against him. He deserves to be presumed innocent of the accusations unless proven otherwise. He will continue to take his case straight to the people of Alabama." "This is an effort by Mitch McConnell and his cronies to steal this election from the people of Alabama, and they will not stand for it," Moore said. Trump did take time to publicly ridicule Democratic Sen. Al Franken, who apologized Thursday after a woman who had traveled with him on a USO tour in 2006 accused him of forcibly kissing her and then groping her for a photograph taken while she was sleeping on a transport plane.
– The White House has made its first remarks on the Roy Moore sexual misconduct allegations since President Trump got back from Asia—and they stopped a long way short of calling for Moore to step aside, as many senior Republicans have done. Trump believes allegations against the Senate candidate are "very troubling and should be taken seriously," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Thursday, per NPR, but "he believes the people of Alabama should make the decision of who their next senator is going to be." She didn't say whether Trump still supports Moore, though she told reporters she doesn't think the president will campaign for him. The Alabama Republican Party, meanwhile, issued a statement in support of Moore after a meeting of its 21-person Steering Committee, AL.com reports. "Alabamians will be the ultimate jury in this election—not the media or those from afar," party Chairman Terry Lathan said in the statement. The AP reports that Moore appeared alongside more than a dozen religious leaders in Alabama Thursday. They took turns praising Moore and attacking the women who accuse him of harassing or assaulting them. "This is a man who does not lie. Compare that to his accusers," said Gordon Klingenschmitt of the group Pray in Jesus Name. (Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell may be considering a "drastic" option.)