Judge Roy Moore's Vietnam Buddy Defends His Brother in Arms: 'It Was a Vietcong Ambush'

Bill Staehle, who served with Judge Roy Moore in Vietnam, joined Breitbart News Tonight host Stephen K. Bannon on SiriusXM 125 the Patriot Channel Monday on the eve of the Alabama Senate election.

Staehle, a trial attorney in New Jersey, said he knew he had to come down to Alabama and testify on his buddy’s character after he saw him under what he likened to a Vietcong ambush.

“What was it that hit your tripwire, that you would come down here and really stand and represent for Judge Moore?” Bannon asked.

“Well it appeared to me to be a smear campaign, classic character assassination,” Staehle said. “When I saw this developing, and I wasn’t exaggerating — it was a Vietcong ambush and my war buddy was standing right there in the kill zone.”

“I saw these RINOs in Washington, throw down their weapons, take their money off the table, and head for the hills,” he said.

He decided to put his reputation on the line in the face of what he saw as unfair attacks.

During a rally Monday night in Midland City, Alabama, Staehle delivered a moving testimony of Moore’s character, which he saw firsthand while the two were serving as captains in Vietnam in the early 1970s.

“I felt I had to talk about the Roy Moore I knew, and the Roy Moore I believe I know now,” he added. “I’m going to put my reputation on the line, I’m going to come down and talk to the people of Alabama, for Roy Moore, and that’s what I did.”

He said he was not prepared for the nastiness of the political attacks he saw against Moore, despite his training as an assistant U.S. attorney.

“How could you be prepared for this?” said Staehle, who served as a U.S. attorney. “Studied political science in college. Studied in law school. Worked in the system. No way could you be prepared for how ugly politics has gotten. It’s shameful,” he said.

Staehle said he was moved by the energy and excitement he felt from Moore’s supporters on the eve of the election.

“It was more than I expected, Steve, the energy that was in the crowd tonight,” he said. “You could feel it, you could sense it, the enthusiasm, the sincerity of the people, people coming up to me.”

“Just terrific people,” he said. “I love where I come from, but I wish my friends from Jersey were more like the people from Alabama.”