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Alabama's Roy Moore previews a potential 2020 comeback

WASHINGTON — Former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore Tuesday previewed potential plans to run again for the U.S. Senate seat that he lost in upset fashion to Democrat Doug Jones in the state’s 2017 special election after multiple women accused him of past sexual misconduct.

“He knows that if I run I will beat Doug Jones,” Moore tweeted after Republican Congressman Bradley Byrnes, who entered the Alabama Senate race this spring, warned voters against picking the controversial former judge as the party’s nominee again.

Donald Trump Jr., whose father appeared at a rally on behalf of Moore days before that 2017 election, tweeted his own response to Moore, blasting the former judge for considering another bid after losing to Jones by 21,000 votes. "You’re literally the only candidate who could lose a GOP seat in pro-Trump, pro-USA ALABAMA," he wrote, adding, "If you actually care about #MAGA more than your own ego, it's time to ride off into the sunset, Judge."

Meanwhile, a prominent figure in Alabama Republican politics, Perry Hooper Jr., a GOP fundraiser and former state representative, told NBC News that President Trump appeared have interest in backing another GOP candidate — Tommy Tuberville, the former head coach of the Auburn University football team, who declared his candidacy this April.

“That’s the plan,” Hooper said about an endorsement of Tuberville by Trump. "I think he's open to an endorsement in the primary."

Hooper told NBC News that President Trump asked him about the field of Republican candidates during a meeting at the White House in mid-May.

“He specifically asked me about Tommy [Tuberville], and he knew that Bradley [Byrne] had asked the president to step aside during the Billy Bush thing,” Hooper said on Tuesday. “He asked me about Coach Tub, and he asked if he was with me in 2016, and I told him he was.”

In 2016, Byrne called on then-candidate Trump to step aside as the Republican nominee after the release of the Access Hollywood tape (Byrne did eventually support Trump in the 2016 general election). 

Alabama State Rep. Arnold Mooney also declared his candidacy in early May, along with former television evangelist Stanley Adair. 

The GOP primary is slated for March 3, 2020.