A campaign spokesman for embattled US Republican politician Roy Moore has had an awkward encounter with a journalist on live TV.
Ted Crockett was asked by CNN reporter Jake Tapper why Mr Moore did not think Muslim politicians should be allowed to serve in Congress.
Mr Crockett attempted to explain that his boss does not believe Muslim members of Congress should be able to serve because when taking the oath, they have to swear on the Bible.
But Tapper was quick to correct Mr Crockett that Congress members of any faith can be sworn in without their hand on the Bible.
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Tapper said: "You don't actually have to swear on a Christian Bible, you can swear on anything, really. I don't know if you knew that. You can swear on a Jewish Bible."
Mr Crockett replied: "Oh no. I swore on the Bible. I've done it three times."
Mr Tapper soon corrected him:
"I'm sure you have, I'm sure you've picked a Bible but the law is not that you have to swear on a Christian Bible. That is not the law. You don't know that?"
The exchange left Mr Crockett speechless.
Social media users were quick to respond.
Article VI, Clause 3 of the Constitution of the United States reads that there is no religious test when it comes to serving in Congress.
On Wednesday, Democrat Doug Jones won a bitter fight for a US Senate seat in deeply conservative Alabama, dealing a political blow to President Donald Trump in a race marked by accusations of sexual misconduct against Republican candidate Mr Moore.
The Democratic win, a political earthquake in the most contentious US election of 2017 and in one of the reddest of deep South states, marks a bitter blow to the president who gave his full endorsement to Mr Moore.
With 99 per cent of Alabama precincts reporting, Mr Jones won 50.0 per cent of the vote. Mr Moore received 48.4 per cent of the vote a margin of about 11,000 out of 1.1 million votes cast, according to figures posted by US networks including CNN.
The result puts an Alabama Democrat in the US Senate for the first time in a quarter of a century.
