Steve Bannon 'orders negative coverage of Trump's senate candidate' in Alabama

Donald Trump’s former chief strategist has reportedly ordered the influential conservative news organisation he heads, to step up its negative coverage of a senate candidate who is being backed by the President.

In what has turned into a proxy war between Mr Trump and his one-time former senior adviser, former senior judge Roy Moore is challenging state prosecutor Luther Strange, for the senate seat in Alabama. Given that the state is heavily Republican and the Democrats stand little chance in the general election in December, the Republican Party’s primary contest, which takes place on Tuesday, will almost certainly decide which candidate gets sent to Washington.

After he was fired from the White House, it was reported Mr Bannon started working to challenge a number of so-called establishment Republican candidates in the 2018 midterms, holding private meetings with potential candidates and offering the powerful backing of his Breitbart News site. Politico said he was coordinating his efforts with billionaire conservative Robert Mercer, who is said to be ready to spend millions of dollars on the project.

The first race he is is focussing on is the special election in Alabama, that was triggered after senator Jeff Sessions was asked to join Mr Trump’s cabinet as Attorney General.

Mr Bannon has thrown his support behind Mr Moore, a controversial and outspoken judge who recently made headlines after suggesting the 9/11 attacks may have been the result of a lack of godliness in the country. He is known for his decade-long fight to install a huge granite statue marked with the 10 Commandments into the offices of the Alabama Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, Mr Trump has thrown his support behind Mr Strange, a state prosecutor who was appointed to fill in for Mr Sessions until a replacement is formally elected. The two candidates are due to hold a debate on Thursday and Mr Trump will travel to Alabama to campaign with Mr Strange over the weekend.

Larry Sabato, Professor of politics at the University of Virginia, told The Independent: “Should Moore win, Bannon and his allies such as Sarah Palin will be emboldened and will end up challenging a fair number of more establishment conservative Republicans in 2018 primaries.”

He added: “Bannon and company will portray themselves as giant killers and can convince big donors to give. Should Strange win, though, some of the air will go out of the trial balloons Bannon has launched for 2018.”

CNN said that earlier this week, Mr Bannon ordered staff at Breitbart to step up what has already been its overwhelmingly positive coverage of Mr Moore and its negative coverage of Mr Strange.

The network said that Matthew Boyle, Breitbart’s Washington editor, told staff: “The only story that matters until next week is Alabama.”

Mr Boyle did not immediately respond to to queries.

By Tuesday afternoon, Breitbart’s front page was full of stories related to the race. The top story reported that former White House aide Sebastian Gorka and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin were set to campaign for Mr Moore, while other stories attacked Mr Strange and the “tsunami” of “dark money” supposedly supporting him.

By contrast, Mr Trump’s major speech to the United Nations received considerably less coverage.