Birmingham, ALABAMA — The mother of Leigh Corfman, who says that Alabama Senatorial Candidate Roy Moore tried to engage in a sexual encounter with her when she was 14, told Breitbart News that the Washington Post worked to convince her daughter to give an interview about the allegations against Moore.
Speaking by phone to Breitbart News on Saturday, Corfman’s mother, Nancy Wells, 71, further stated that her daughter would not have come forward if it weren’t for The Post reporter’s alleged actions.
Corfman went public with her accusations against Moore in a Washington Post interview published last week in which she alleged that Moore attempted to initiate sexual contact with her in 1979 when she was 14. Three other women between the ages of 16 and 18 claim that when Moore was in his 30s, he attempted to court them or that he dated them. The current age of consent in Alabama is 16.
Moore has strongly denied the accusations. He has questioned the timing of The Post’s story, which was dropped mere weeks before the December 12 election.
Corfman’s mother, Wells, told Breitbart News that reporters for the Washington Post convinced her daughter to give them an interview.
“She did not go to them,” said Wells. “They called her.”
“They tried to convince her to do it?” this reporter asked.
“Yes,” replied Wells, matter-of-factly.
Wells was asked about Corfman’s motivations for going public. “It wasn’t done for politics, you know,” Wells replied. “It was done for personal reasons. And it wouldn’t have been done if the reporters hadn’t contacted my daughter.”
Asked about the timing of The Post interview and why 38 years after the alleged incident her daughter decided to speak out weeks before the election, Wells replied: “She was contacted by the reporter. That’s why.”
Wells comments seem to indicate activist behavior on the part of the Washington Post reporters.
In The Post’s article, the newspaper concedes that it approached the women, but it does not state that it worked to convince any of them to go public. The Post did report that the women were initially reluctant to go public.
The newspaper reported:
Neither Corfman nor any of the other women sought out The Post. While reporting a story in Alabama about supporters of Moore’s Senate campaign, a Post reporter heard that Moore allegedly had sought relationships with teenage girls. Over the ensuing three weeks, two Post reporters contacted and interviewed the four women. All were initially reluctant to speak publicly but chose to do so after multiple interviews, saying they thought it was important for people to know about their interactions with Moore. The women say they don’t know one another.
Earlier on Sunday, Breitbart News reported that Corfman’s mother contradicted a key detail of Corfman’s story. Speaking by phone to Breitbart News on Saturday, Wells said that her daughter did not have a phone in her bedroom during the period that Moore is reported to have allegedly called Corfman – purportedly on Corfman’s bedroom phone – to arrange at least one encounter.
The Washington Post cited Corfman as remembering that she provided Moore with her number when she was 14. She said that she spoke to Moore from what she described as the phone in her bedroom.
Corfman, meanwhile, described her own troubled background to The Post, including three divorces, bankruptcies and a history of drug abuse.