No accident: ex-staff accuse Trump candidate of 'intentionally' stealing valor

The Daily Mail reports President Donald Trump’s Republican pick for Alabama’s Senate seat deliberately mischaracterized his military record, according to the candidate’s own staff.

Several local Alabama media outlets reported Congressman Barry Moore padded his military record throughout his time in public office, as well as on the campaign trail. However, a former senior staffer from Moore's congressional office told the Daily Mail this was no accident, that he has been 'intentionally misleading' about his service record for years.

Moore's campaign told the Daily Mail that he served “more than six years.” But according to documents released by Moore's campaign since the controversy broke last weekend, he served in the National Guard for just over two and a half years, before receiving an honorable discharge in July 1991.

“Multiple former staffers said that early in his congressional tenure, senior staff took a deliberate decision to avoid the word 'veteran' in all communications — because Moore did not meet the qualifications — substituting ‘former service member’ instead,” according to Daily Mail.

Moore was even typically accompanied by veteran staffers onto military bases “because he lacked the active-duty or veteran ID card needed for independent access.”

The paper adds that there were internal discussions within the campaign about obtaining a visitor's pass for Moore, but the idea was dropped because of the problematic 'optics' of explaining to the public why he had no base ID in the first place.

Moore successfully completed ten weeks of basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, in 1989 — but released records show he never completed training for a specific military occupational specialty (MOS), Daily Mail said. It adds that sources familiar with military rank and promotion told the Daily Mail that without an MOS, Moore was never deployable.

Further complicating the issue is Moore's wife, Heather Moore, who the Mail reports as recently as this week claiming her husband served eight years in the military, per a post by the Franklin Free Press.

Additionally, the Daily Mail exclusively revealed that Moore's campaign paid his wife nearly $50,000 through her LLC, Chicken and Biscuits, for digital and strategy consulting.

“The campaign said her 'role is legitimate' and her pay 'reported as required by law,'” the Daily Mail reports.

A Moore loss would hand the Trump another nasty defeat after Trump-endorsed Congressman Randy Feenstra was trounced in the primary for Iowa governor earlier this month.