Sean Hannity reacted to a bombshell Washington Post report that Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore had sexual encounters with underage girls when he was in his 30s just as you would expect: by taking Moore’s side and attacking Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and more! UPDATED

In case you missed it, the Post spoke with four women, none of whom were found to have either donated to nor worked for any of Moore’s opponents:

[The] women interviewed by The Washington Post in recent weeks say Moore pursued them when they were between the ages of 16 and 18 and he was in his early 30s, episodes they say they found flattering at the time, but troubling as they got older. None of the three women say that Moore forced them into any sort of relationship or sexual contact.

However, one of the women, Leigh Corfman, described a visit to Moore’s home when she was 14:

[S]he says, he took off her shirt and pants and removed his clothes. He touched her over her bra and underpants, she says, and guided her hand to touch him over his underwear. 

“I wanted it over with — I wanted out,” she remembers thinking. “Please just get this over with. Whatever this is, just get it over.” Corfman says she asked Moore to take her home, and he did.

This is not just creepy, hypocritical behavior from a Christian firebrand, but a likely felony, according to The Post (though the statute of limitations has long since passed).

But Hannity, who actively promoted Moore’s candidacy, was not about to let a little thing like that get in the way of his loyalty! Even if it was less than a month since his near-nightly outrage at liberals for not condemning Harvey Weinstein. Media Matters caught Hannity’s radio show Thursday:

HANNITY: There are harassers… I believe that these stories sometimes are true. Like for example… Bill Clinton. … I believe them all. But I believed them when I looked them in the eye.

Hannity also attacked Moore’s Republican critics, including Mitch McConnell and John McCain for calling on Moore to step aside. But

But then Hannity started suggesting that Moore’s accusers were lying or, at the very least, were not credible:

HANNITY: Then you have false allegations that are made, and you know -- how do you determine? It's "He said, she" -- what? You're looking at me puzzled. Why are you looking at me with that look? What?

LYNDA MCLAUGHLIN: No, I'm just -- I'm listening to you and I think it's a very very dark and sad place that we've come to, because allegations are being waged and in the court of public opinion, you know, people are guilty until they're proven innocent, and it's very, very sad. And I think it's very sad for victims because there are real victims out there that want to tell the truth, and maybe they're afraid to do it, and then there are people who use the word "victim" as leverage, and a way to get things. And I think it's a really a scary time.

HANNITY: There are false allegations made. You know, I can tell you another thing that is a common practice, people make a allegation at, for example, big corporations. Big corporations, they make a business decision, "Alright, if I pay $200,000, this goes away, okay, you're out of here, we're done with you, it's all over," even though they don't believe it happened. […] Other people just do -- do some people do it for political reasons?

Gee, I wonder if Hannity any particular big corporation or, perhaps, a big name former anchor at a big corporation in mind.

Hannity went back to Moore:

HANNITY: How do you possibly tell, know the truth, except -- okay, so, the two other girls were older in this case. He was apparently, like, 32, and he dated -- one girl was 18, one girl was 17, they never said he did -- there was no sexual -- there was kissing involved, and then they're saying this one encounter with a 14 year old --

MCLAUGHLIN: And it was consensual --

HANNITY: And consensual, that's true. And there's, you know -- I just -- I don't know how you find out the truth.

As Raw Story noted, CNN anchor Jake Tapper pointed out that a 14-year-old cannot legally consent to sexual contact. That prompted Hannity to lash out at “Lazy Fake Jake" Tapper. (with swipes at Barack Obama). First, Hannity responded to a Tapper tweet (both tweets seem to have been removed):

Then Hannity attacked Tapper on the air.

Listen to Hannity defend Moore below, during the November 9, 2017 The Sean Hannity Show and watch him attack Tapper on the November 9, 2017 Hannity show.

11/10/17 Update: There seems to be some focus on Hannity's use of the word "consensual' in the discussion with McClaughlin, above, as though he was explicitly justifying Moore's behavior with the 14 year-old. I agree that Hannity was not referring to the 14 year-old when he spoke of "consensual" sex. But I don't see that it especially matters given that the thrust of his remarks defended Moore. And it's not as though Hannity singled out Moore's encounter with a 14 year-old from the others. So yeah, Hannity's comments were less awful than they might seem at first blush but that does not make the rest of what he said unobjectionable.