Politico reports that President Donald Trump's near-endorsement of the sexually-accused Alabama Republican senate candidate Roy Moore came after intense conversations with senior Republicans and White House aides.

The White House advisers told Politico that the president "drew parallels between Moore’s predicament and the one he faced just over a year ago when, during the final weeks of the 2016 campaign, Trump confronted a long line of women who accused him of harassment. He adamantly denied the claims."

Speaking with reporters as he departed for Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, Trump couldn't have come closer to saying that he believed Roy Moore's declaration that all nine of his accusers are lying. In Trump's typically incoherent, repetitive way of speaking, he said: “Let me just tell you, Roy Moore denies it. That's all I can say. He denies it. And, by the way, he totally denies it,”

“I mean, if you look at what is really going on, and you look at all the things that have happened over the last 48 hours, he totally denies it,” Trump said. “He says it didn’t happen. And, you know, you have to listen to him also. You're talking about, he said 40 years ago this did not happen.”

Crushing any optimism that the White House would remain neutral or side with leading Republicans who have called for Moore to drop out of the race, Trump bashed Democratic candidate Doug Jones.

“I can tell you one thing for sure: We don't need a liberal person in there, a Democrat — Jones. I've looked at his record. It's terrible on crime. It's terrible on the border. It's terrible on the military. I can tell you for a fact, we do not need somebody that's going to be bad on crime, bad on borders, bad with the military, bad for the Second Amendment,” he said.

Tuesday late-night hosts addressed sexual misconduct allegations against both Charlie Rose and Roy Moore. CBS' Stephen Colbert led the parade, saying: "If all the sexual assault allegations coming out of the entertainment or the news industry have got you down, you can always take a break and distract yourself with the sexual assault allegations coming out of Washington.”

“For almost two weeks, Trump has faced repeated questions about his position on Roy Moore, and for two weeks Trump has done everything he could to avoid answering them,” NBC's Seth Meyers said. “Since the news about Moore first broke, we’ve been waiting to find out if Trump could summon at least a shred of decency and disavow a man accused of preying on teenage girls.

“Today, we do found that the old saying is true,” the host said. “Sexual predators of a feather flock together.”

“In fairness to Trump, who are you going to believe?,” Meyers asked. “Nine women who don’t know each other and whose stories have been corroborated by dozens of independent sources, or a guy who looks like the Marlboro Man’s deadbeat dad?”

Myers also addressed Trump's Tuesday argument that Dem. Doug Jones is soft on crime. The Guardian recaps: "“Soft on crime? You’re siding with an accused child molester over a guy who prosecuted the KKK.”

Related: President Trump and accusations of sexual misconduct: The complete list The Washington Post

Tina Johnson

Two more accusers of sexual misconduct came forward tonight against Alabama Republican Senate race candidate Roy Moore. Al.com reports late Wednesday that Tina Johnson alleged that in the fall of 1999 (when Moore was married) she sat in Moore's law office with her mother Mary Katherine Cofield.

Moore began flirting with her from the moment she walked into Moore's office, alleged Johnson.

"He kept commenting on my looks, telling me how pretty I was, how nice I looked," recalled Johnson. "He was saying that my eyes were beautiful."

It made her uncomfortable. "I was thinking, can we hurry up and get out of here?"

Johnson was in a difficult period of her life, and in the process of signing over custody of her son to her mother. As she left the office, Johnson recalled that Moore grabbed her buttocks.

"He didn't pinch it; he grabbed it," said Johnson. She was so surprised she didn't say anything. She didn't tell her mother.

AL.com located the court documents from 1991, detailing the custody transfer.

"This is not a politics thing with me," she said. "It's more of a moral and religious thing." It has bothered her over the years to see Moore on TV, talking about his Christian faith.

Like so many of the other accusers, Johnson said that the other women have given her courage to confront Moore.

Kelly Harrison

The seventh woman Kelly Harrison said that in 1982 she was a high school senior, 17 and working at a Red Lobster restaurant in Gadsden. Harrison recognized him, and when Moore asked her out, she asked him "I just kind of said, 'Do you know how old I am?'"

"And he said, 'Yeah. I go out with girls your age all the time.'"

Thorp said she turned him down, telling him she had a boyfriend, prompting Moore to walk away.

She knows one of Moore's accusers, Leigh Corfman, who told The Washington Post that Moore had a sexual encounter with her when she was 14. Thorp believes Corfman's story about her underage, sexual molestation experience with Moore, saying she is proud of her for telling it publicly.

Moore Team's Rebuttal To #5 Accuser Beverly Young Nelson

Ray Moore says Old Hickory Restaurant didn't exist as accuser Beverly Young Nelson alleged on Monday, saying that this is where she met Moore, but AL.com found it listed in 1978 directory. The Moore team also claims that the signature on Nelson's yearbook isn't his.

I'd be surprised if Gloria Allred didn't have the yearbook signature checked out before the press conference, but we'll see. Plus. Moore says the signature can't be evaluated over the Internet and is demanding the yearbook go to a neutral third party. I agree age of ink would be interesting. I don't see any big discrepancies in the handwriting, but what do I know. I noted myself the DA vs. assistant DA, which Moore was. But again, Allred had to notice that discrepancy, too. I just attributed the discrepancy to Moore's desire to impress the young women.

Josh Barro of Business Insider tweeted a comparison between the 1977 yearbook matches Moore's signature on his US Term Limits pledge this year.

Moore was Nelson's divorce judge and she saw him again, says his team. The lawyer indicated that the accuser said that she had not seen Moore again, but reading the New York Times transcript of her exact words, Nelson never referenced not seeing Moore again.