Republican primary

In an explosive report that, if accurate, could potentially swing a race for Jeff Session's old Senate seat to the Democrats, former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is being accused of having inappropriate sexual contact with a 14-year-old girl back in 1979, when he was 32.

Moore handily won the Republican primary in the race to fill Session's old seat back in September, and was gearing up to face Democrat and former US Attorney Doug Jones in a special election next month.

Last week, the New York Times confounded the expectations of many rabid followers of the various investigations into the Trump campaign when it revealed that the Washington Free Beacon, a conservative news website funded in large part by hedge fund billionaire Paul Singer, was the Republican-affiliated group that hired Fusion GPS - the opposition research firm that supervised the creation of the ‘Trump dossier’ - to conduct opposition research into then-candidate Donald Trump during the Republican primary.

In what will probably be remembered as a footnote in the Congressional inquiries into the credibility of the infamous "Trump dossier", the mysterious Republican anti-Trump group that retained opposition research firm Fusion GPS during the Republican primary has finally been revealed.

Update (4:30 PM EST): Not surprisingly, Jeff Flake has awarded his first, post-resignation interview to CNN who just happens to be making a lot of new Republican friends today...Here's what he had to tell Jake Tapper:

Sen Jeff Flake: Republicans ought to stand up and say “this is not right, this is not us, this is not conservative.” https://t.co/x6yhopKXrB pic.twitter.com/w6dktg8c3l

— CNN (@CNN) October 24, 2017

* * *

Having successfully led a campaign to elect Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore in his primary runoff against the GOP establishment candidate Luther Strange, former Trump Chief Strategist Steve Bannon has now set his sights on Jeff Flake's Arizona Senate seat.  At a kickoff rally for Flake's Republican primary opposition, Dr. Kelli Ward, Bannon said that the Republican establishment, led by Mitch McConnell, John McCain and Bob Corker are actively "trying to destroy him everyday." More from The Hill: