Roy Moore's campaign spokesman 'speechless' after being told US officials do not need to swear on Christian bible

Alabama election: Roy Moore's campaign spokesman was left speechless when told that elected officials do not have to swear on the Christian bible
CNN

Roy Moore’s campaign spokesman appeared speechless when he was told live on TV that elected US officials do not have to swear on the Christian bible.

Ted Crockett said the Alabama Republican did not believe Muslims should be allowed to serve in Congress because “you have to swear on the bible” to be elected.

But when corrected by CNN’s Jake Tapper, Mr Crockett remained silent and appeared visibly confused during the television interview.

The interview was carried out before Mr Moore was sensationally defeated by Doug Jones, who became the first Democrat to win a US Senate seat for Alabama in 25 years.

“You have to swear on a Bible to be an elected official in the USA, he [Mr Moore] alleges that a Muslim cannot do that ethically – swearing on the bible,” Mr Crockett mistakenly said.

Refuting his claim, CNN presenter Mr Tapper told him: “You don’t actually have to swear on a Christian bible, you can swear on anything, really, I don’t know if you knew that…”

Mr Crockett continued to explain why he thought elected officials must swear on the Christian bible, before he was silenced when told: “that is not the law”.

The bizarre interview on the network’s The Lead show came ahead of a nervy evening of vote counts for Mr Moore. Mr Jones delivered his victory speech just before 10pm in the US (4am UK time).

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