Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore speaks at a campaign rally in Fairhope, Alabama. Image by Scott Olson/Getty Images

By Aiden Pink November 15, 2017

The Alabama Senate race, already rocked by allegations of pedophilia, just got even crazier, thanks to a mysterious robocaller going by the name “Bernie Bernstein.”

WKRG, a TV station in Mobile, Alabama, reported Tuesday that at least one person had received a robocall from “Bernstein,” who claimed to be a Washington Post reporter willing to pay people to make damaging remarks about Republican candidate Roy Moore.

“Hi, this is Bernie Bernstein,” the message began. “I’m a reporter for The Washington Post calling to find out if anyone at this address is a female between the ages of 54 to 57 years old willing to make damaging remarks about candidate Roy Moore for a reward of between $5,000 and $7,000. We will not be fully investigating these claims; however, we will make a written report. I can be reached by email at [email protected]. Thank you.”

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The Washington Post’s executive editor, Martin Baron, said in a statement that the calls did not come from his newspaper. “The call’s description of our reporting methods bears no relationship to reality,” he wrote. “We are shocked and appalled that anyone would stoop to this level to discredit real journalism.”

The Post broke the story last week that multiple women claimed that Moore has initiated sexual activities with them when they were teens and he was in his 30s. Moore’s defenders have accused the women of making up their stories, and claim that the Post was spreading fake news.

Contact Aiden Pink at [email protected] or on Twitter, @aidenpink

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