Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee came out in strong support of Josh Duggar today, who has been accused of allegedly abusing underage girls as a teenager and publicly apologized for his "inexcusable" actions. Huckabee also stood by the Duggar family as a whole; this comes after leaked documents reveal that the family patriarch, 19 Kids and Counting star Jim Bob Duggar, knew about his son's offenses for over a year before reporting them to the police.
Former Governor of Arkansas, Huckabee highlighted the need for forgiveness in the case of Josh in a Facebook post. "Josh’s actions when he was an underage teen are as he described them himself, 'inexcusable,' but that doesn’t mean 'unforgivable,'" wrote Huckabee.
He also defended the Duggar family, who are also from Arkansas, for their "humility and authenticity" in this situation, and criticized those who are eager to "discredit" the family for their "bloodthrist:"
No one needs to defend Josh’s actions as a teenager, but the fact that he confessed his sins to those he harmed, sought help, and has gone forward to live a responsible and circumspect life as an adult is testament to his family’s authenticity and humility. Those who have enjoyed revealing this long ago sins in order to discredit the Duggar family have actually revealed their own insensitive bloodthirst, for there was no consideration of the fact that the victims wanted this to be left in the past and ultimately a judge had the information on file destroyed—not to protect Josh, but the innocent victims.
Jim Bob recently endorsed Huckabee's run for Republican presidential candiate. He also previously worked on Rick Santorum's presidential campaign in 2012. Jim Bob served two terms in the Arkansas House of Representative before losing his own bid for the United States Senate in 2002.
Earlier today, TLC announced that they were pulling the Duggars' show 19 Kids and Counting from the air.
