Moore campaign remains defiant amid sexual misconduct allegations

— -- The attorney representing embattled Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore defended him Wednesday against the sexual misconduct allegations that have driven many in the GOP to call on Moore to drop out of the race.

In a press conference outside the Alabama Republican Party headquarters in Birmingham this afternoon, Moore's attorney Phillip Jauregui and Moore's campaign chairman Bill Armistead stood by the candidate and challenged the story of one of Moore's accusers, Beverly Young Nelson.

"In the cases where it's true, it's horrible for the person making the accusations," Jauregui said, "When the allegations are made and it's not true, it's also horrible for who the allegations are directed against."

Among the challenges to Nelson's story presented by Jauregui was the assertion that the handwriting in the yearbook she held up at a press conference earlier this week with her attorney Gloria Allred does not match other samples of Moore's handwriting. Jauregui said that Moore's legal team has sent a letter to Allred demanding the original yearbook be released so that a "neutral custodian" can examine the handwriting.

Jauregui also said that in 1999, when Moore was a circuit court judge in Alabama, his signature appears on documents relating to Nelson's divorce from her husband at the time, Ervine Lee Harris. Moore's signature does appear on documents obtained by ABC News related to Nelson's divorce proceedings from 1999.

In the press conference in which she detailed the alleged misconduct by Moore, Nelson did not say Moore signed an order relating to her divorce.

Neither Jauregui nor Armistead took questions from the media during the press conference.

In a statement released Wednesday in response, Allred said she would release the original yearbook on the condition that the Senate Judiciary Committee or the Senate Select Committee on Ethics hold hearings regarding the allegations against Moore and again said Nelson is willing to testify under oath regarding Moore's misconduct.

"The time has come for Roy Moore to announce whether he is willing to be examined under oath concerning his conduct with regard to the five accusers before the Senate committees," she said.

Allred also urged the committees to "subpoena Roy Moore to testify under oath about his denials of the accusations made against him."

Moore has remained defiant in the face of growing pressure from top Republicans like Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan, who have called for him to step aside and have suggested a write-in challenger should enter the race.

On Twitter on Wednesday afternoon, Moore said the allegations were nothing more than an attempt to keep him out of the Senate by the Republicans and Democrats who did not support President Donald Trump.