Mike Huckabee Stands By Josh Duggar

On Friday, 2016 presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee announced on Facebook that he and his wife are standing by 19 Kids and Counting'sJosh Duggar, a conservative Christian reality TV starwho is currently embroiled in a child molestation scandal.

The "bloodthirsty media" Huckabee is referring to is In Touch Magazine, which revealed this week that Josh, the eldest of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, was the subject of a 2006 police investigation into allegations that he had molested multiple underage girls as a teenager. Duggar admitted that the first incident had occurred in 2002, when at age 14, he "fondl[ed] a minor's breasts while she slept." On Thursday, a judge in Arkansas ordered that the 2006 police report be expunged from Duggar's record.

On Thursday, Josh, now 27, issued an apology on the official Duggar Facebook page. The post also included statements from the Duggar parents and Josh's wife Anna. Here's Josh's statement:

Huckabee has been close with the Duggars for years. The family supported the former Arkansas governor during his 2008 presidential bid, and endorsed his 2016 campaign earlier this month. Just last week, Josh Duggar tweeted a photo of himself and Huckabee in Washington, DC.

In a January [interview with People](I've pointed them out as an example of something that's wholesome and wonderful ), Huckabee said of the Duggar family, "I've pointed them out as an example of something that's wholesome and wonderful."

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