- The Washington Times - Thursday, February 28, 2019

Following Roy Moore’s accusations of running a disinformation campaign, Sen. Doug Jones, Alabama Democrat, challenged his former Republican opponent to a second run for the seat.

In an interview with Politico, Jones said that if Moore “really believes” he won his seat unfairly, then they should “just step aside, have a press conference with him and let’s just do it again.”

In reply, Mr. Moore said in an email to his supporters that if he runs again, Jones “will be the first to know.”

Mr. Moore, who narrowly lost the December 2017 special election to fill the seat previously held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, said in an interview on Focal Point in January, that he has “no doubt” the election was stolen through disinformation campaigns and calls to write in candidates.

One of these campaigns, Project Birmingham, appeared to create false evidence that Russian bots were supporting Mr. Moore but were created by social media users in the United States.

“I have no doubt this influenced the campaign. And to say it didn’t would contradict even the report that came out on Project Birmingham. It’s no coincidence this Project Birmingham originated as early as September 2017 before the false allegations came up. I think it was all a plan. I think it was all a plot.”

No evidence has come forward that Mr. Jones had a part in these disinformation campaigns and the senator denounced the campaigns and requested investigations into the tactics.

“What is obvious now is that we have focused so much on Russia that we haven’t focused on the fact that people in this country could take the same playbook and do the same damn thing,” he told Politico in December.

Mr. Moore said to supporters that Jones’ “call for an investigation” into these campaigns was “to cover his own fraudulent campaign.”

Mr. Moore faced accusations of sexual misconduct in the weeks leading up to the election. While no charges were filed against him, Mr. Moore filed lawsuits against three women for defamation of character.

• Bailey Vogt can be reached at bvogt@washingtontimes.com.

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