The Latest: Trump says Moore had deck ‘stacked against him’

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Latest on the Alabama Senate election (all times local):

WATCH: Former VP @JoeBiden on Doug Jones win: “It sends a message that not only did they reject all of [Roy Moore] stood for, in terms of his attitude toward women… Doug talked about the issues he cares about." pic.twitter.com/HtSRVWXnOE

— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) December 13, 2017

6:30 a.m.

President Donald Trump is defending his decision to initially back Sen. Luther Strange against Roy Moore in Alabama’s Senate election, saying in a predawn tweet that “Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him.”

“I was right!” the president said in a pre-dawn Twitter post Wednesday, a day after Democrat Doug Jones narrowly defeated Moore, a former state Supreme Court chief justice who was buffeted by allegations of sexual misconduct.

Trump notes in his social media post that the reason he originally sided with Strange was that “I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election.”

The president had sent a tweet late Tuesday congratulating Jones, a former federal prosecutor, on his “hard fought victory.”

The reason I originally endorsed Luther Strange (and his numbers went up mightily), is that I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election. I was right! Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2017

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Doug Jones to supporters: "I am truly overwhelmed…I have always believed that the people of Alabama had more in common than to divide us." https://t.co/JhJTKxZ7LB pic.twitter.com/9m7Jb20orf

— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 13, 2017

3:40 a.m.

In a stunning victory aided by scandal, Democrat Doug Jones won Alabama’s special Senate election, beating back history, an embattled Republican opponent and President Donald Trump, who urgently endorsed GOP rebel Roy Moore despite a litany of sexual misconduct allegations.

It was the first Democratic Senate victory in a quarter-century in Alabama, one of the reddest of red states, and proved anew that party loyalty is anything but certain in the age of Trump. Tuesday’s Republican loss was a major embarrassment for the president and a fresh wound for the nation’s already divided GOP.

“We have shown not just around the state of Alabama, but we have shown the country the way – that we can be unified,” Jones declared as supporters in a Birmingham ballroom cheered, danced and cried tears of joy. Still in shock, the Democrat struggled for words: “I think that I have been waiting all my life, and now I just don’t know what the hell to say.”

(Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

"Realize when the vote is this close –– that it's not over." Republican Roy Moore refuses to concede to Democrat Doug Jones, despite losing a close Alabama Senate race. https://t.co/YNIst4Ggn1 pic.twitter.com/dEIMgYiAZ1

— CBS News (@CBSNews) December 13, 2017