Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, says Trump’s throwing a ‘lifeline’ to Roy Moore

Sen. Lindsey Graham said Sunday that President Trump is throwing a lifeline to Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore and warned that a victory by Mr. Moore would be baggage for the Republican Party.

The South Carolina Republican said his party would continue to face questions about Mr. Moore’s conduct with young women if he were to win the Senate seat.

“The moral of the story is don’t nominate somebody like Roy Moore,” Mr. Graham said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “From a party perspective, we got to look long term not short term.”

Mr. Moore’s chance of filling Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ former Senate seat is in jeopardy after several women have come forward over the past few weeks to allege that Mr. Moore pursued and molested them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s.

Mr. Moore has denied the allegations, and President Trump hasn’t ruled out campaigning for him ahead of the special election on Dec. 12, sending out tweets against Democratic nominee Doug Jones.

“The last thing we need in Alabama and the U.S. Senate is a Schumer/Pelosi puppet who is WEAK on Crime, WEAK on the Border, Bad for our Military and our great Vets, Bad for our 2nd Amendment, AND WANTS TO RAISES TAXES TO THE SKY. Jones would be a disaster!” Mr. Trump tweeted on Sunday morning.

The president posted a second tweet, noting that he had supported interim Sen. Luther Strange during the Alabama Republican primary.

“Can’t let Schumer/Pelosi win this race. Liberal Jones would be BAD!” Mr. Trump tweeted.

South Carolina’s other GOP senator joined Mr. Graham Sunday in expressing disapproval of Mr. Moore, saying the best move for the country would be for the former Alabama judge to move on.

“In my opinion — and in the opinion of many Republicans and conservatives in the Senate — it is time for us to turn the page,” Sen. Tim Scott told ABC’s “This Week.” “It’s not about electing Republicans versus Democrats. This is about the character of our country. I want to be on the side of right when history writes the story.”