U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Hunstville) reinforced his support for Roy Moore on Wednesday, challenging the credibility of sexual misconduct allegations against the embattled Senate candidate.

In an interview with Dale Jackson of WVNN, Brooks said he is sticking with Moore because of how questionable the allegations are and how important this Senate seat is for Republicans. 

Why this matters: Several major Alabama Republicans have said they believe the allegations or see no reason to disbelieve them, including Governor Kay Ivey, Senator Richard Shelby, and Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Shelby has said he no longer supports Moore, while Ivey said she will still vote for him. Brooks’ response highlights a significant division among Alabama’s conservative leaders regarding whether the allegations are credible and if they are, what the implications are.

Key Quotes:

— “What you have is the mainstream, left-wing socialist Democrat news media trying to distort the evidence to cause people to reach the conclusion that Roy Moore engaged in unlawful conduct with a minor, and my analysis of the evidence is that is not the case,” Brooks said.

— “One of (the accusers) is clearly a liar because that one forged the ‘love, Roy Moore’ part of a yearbook in order to try to for whatever reason get at Roy Moore and win this seat for the Democrats, and there’s a lot more to it as to why I believe that the evidence is almost incontrovertible about whether the yearbook was forged,” Brooks said.