Breitbart’s willingness to pre-emptively defend Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore shows that the website is nothing more than the propaganda machine of its chairman, former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon.

Just before The Washington Post reported that four women said Moore made sexual advances toward them while they were teenagers, Breitbart published a story defending the candidate -- whom the site has supported -- in advance of the Post’s report. In the post, written by the website’s Jerusalem bureau chief, Aaron Klein, Breitbart alleged that the Post intended to “hit” Moore with a “piece targeting” him. Breitbart followed with a statement from Moore, in which he called the report “‘completely false and … a desperate political attack by the National Democrat Party and the Washington Post on this campaign.’” From the article:

The Washington Post is imminently planning to run a piece targeting Judge Roy Moore, claiming that he engaged in inappropriate conduct with four teenage girls 34 years ago.

The alleged incidents, all of which Moore strongly denies, allegedly took place between 1977 and 1982. Breitbart News obtained details of the forthcoming Post story from the newspaper’s letter detailing the allegations sent to Moore’s campaign for comment.

“These allegations are completely false and are a desperate political attack by the National Democrat Party and the Washington Post on this campaign,” Moore said in a statement obtained by Breitbart News.

Separately, Moore’s campaign said in a statement, “This garbage is the very definition of fake news and intentional defamation.”

The campaign pointed out that Moore has been married to his wife, Kayla, for nearly 33 years and has four children and five grandchildren. It also noted that Moore has served in public office in the past and that no such allegations were previously made.

Bannon has been one of Moore’s most vocal supporters. Even while Bannon was in the White House, Breitbart acted as his personal communications arm. Since he returned to the site’s helm, he’s worked tirelessly to use it as a platform to campaign for Moore. By publishing this pre-emptive statement, Bannon and Breitbart showed that they aren’t simply a bastion of conservative rabble-rousers, but rather a propaganda machine that’s now supporting a man accused of unspeakably awful acts.