Senate Republicans say Roy Moore should withdraw from race if allegations are true

Republicans distanced themselves from GOP Alabama Senate nominee Roy Moore on Thursday after a woman alleged that the controversial judge sexually assaulted her when she was 14 years old.

Leigh Corfman, who is now 53, told The Washington Post in a deeply reported article published Thursday that Moore, then a 32-year-old assistant district attorney, took off her shirt and removed his clothes in the 1979 incident. He touched her over her bra and led her hands to touch him over his underwear, she said.

Three other women who spoke to the Post said Moore “asked them on dates when they were between 16 and 18 and he was in his early 30s.”

RELATED: Women who have accused Roy Moore of sexual assault

Moore’s campaign blasted the report in a statement on Thursday, stating that he was the victim of a “systematic campaign to distort the truth about the Judge’s record and career and derail his campaign.”

“After over 40 years of public service, if any of these allegations were true, they would have been made public long before now,” Moore’s campaign said.

Senate Republicans did not immediately call for Moore to withdraw from the race on Thursday, maintaining instead that he ought to do so if the allegations are “found to be true.”

“The allegations against Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore are deeply troubling,” Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said in a statement. “If these allegations are found to be true, Roy Moore must drop out of the Alabama special Senate election.”

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), the No. 2 Republican leader in the chamber, called the allegations against Moore “deeply disturbing.” Cornyn endorsed Moore last month.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said she had spoken to Sen. Luther Strange (R-Ala.), who lost to Moore in the Alabama Senate primary, about potentially running a write-in campaign before the Dec. 12 special election.

RELATED: Roy Moore through the years

Alabama law prohibits withdrawal of a candidate from a ballot within 76 days of the election.

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) said he had “no reason to doubt” the Post’s reporting.

• This article originally appeared on HuffPost.