He said he was a Washington Post reporter offering a reward for dirt on Roy Moore. It wasn’t true.

A pastor in Alabama said he received a voice mail Nov 14 from a man falsely claiming to be a reporter with The Washington Post and seeking women “willing to make damaging remarks” about Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore in exchange for money.  The call came days after The Post reported on allegations that Moore initiated a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old girl nearly four decades ago, sparking calls by leading Republicans for him to abandon his campaign for the U.S. Senate in a special election to be held Dec. 12. Pastor Al Moore of Creola (AL) said he received the call on his cellphone a little after 7 a.m. Nov 14 from a private number, which he did not answer. The caller, claiming to be “Bernie Bernstein,” left a 27-second voice mail, which Moore played for local CBS affiliate WKRG. “I’m a reporter for The Washington Post calling to find out if anyone at this address is a female between the ages of 54 to 57 years old, willing to make damaging remarks about candidate Roy Moore for a reward of between $5,000 and $7,000,” the caller said in the voice mail. Martin Baron, The Post’s executive editor, said the caller’s reporting methods bear “no relationship to reality.” “The Post has just learned that at least one person in Alabama has received a call from someone falsely claiming to be from The Washington Post,” Baron said in a statement. “The call’s description of our reporting methods bears no relationship to reality. We are shocked and appalled that anyone would stoop to this level to discredit real journalism.”