Trump was reportedly annoyed that Ivanka Trump criticized Roy Moore

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Donald Trump and Ivanka Trump.

• President Donald Trump was irritated when his daughter, Ivanka Trump, condemned Senate candidate Roy Moore.
• Moore's campaign has been mired in scandal after being battered by a string of sexual-misconduct allegations.
• Trump implicitly endorsed Moore last week, and was frustrated when his daughter spoke out against him and suggested he drop out of the race.

President Donald Trump was irritated that his daughter and close confidant, Ivanka Trump, criticized Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, according to The New York Times.

Moore is running to fill the Senate seat that was most recently vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Moore's campaign has been hobbled in recent weeks by a string of sexual misconduct allegations brought by women who say Moore either groped them, molested them, or pursued relationships with them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s.

At least nine women have so far accused Moore of sexually inappropriate behavior. One accuser, Leigh Corfman, alleged that Moore molested her when she was 14 years old. Another, Beverly Young Nelson, said during a press conference that Moore attempted to sexually assault her when she was a 16-year-old waitress.

Ivanka Trump said, as the allegations against Moore stacked up, that there was a "special place in hell for people who prey on children," and that she saw no reason to doubt the victims' accounts.

The comment appeared to frustrate Trump, who implicitly endorsed Moore's candidacy last week, according to The Times.

"Do you believe this?" he asked aides in the Oval Office after his daughter spoke out about Moore. The Times added that he "vented" his annoyance at Ivanka to several advisers.

Moore's opponent, Democrat Doug Jones, pounced on Ivanka's remarks and turned them into a campaign ad. He also released another ad on Wednesday, which opened by listing the names of seven Moore accusers, along with photos of them at the age when they accused Moore of abusing or inappropriately pursuing them.

"The list is growing," the narrator in the ad said. "They were girls when Roy Moore immorally pursued them. Now, they are women, witnesses to us all of his disturbing conduct."

The ad continued: "Will we make their abuser a US senator?" It closed by naming two more of his accusers.

Despite the cratering support from congressional Republican lawmakers, Moore still has the endorsement of much of Alabama's Republican establishment.

Last week, several of Alabama's most influential newspapers wrote a scathing editorial against him splashed across their front page, titled, "Stand for decency, reject Roy Moore."

Moore denies all the allegations brought against him and denounced them as being part of a liberal smear campaign by the "Obama-Clinton Machine," though his story has shown inconsistencies at times.