Bannon has remained publicly defiant, casting the allegations as a coordinated smear of Moore and sending two reporters to Alabama. But a Bannon ally confirmed to me that behind the scenes, Bannon has been sounding people out about how to handle the Moore situation. (This source and others quoted in this article spoke on condition of anonymity in order to speak freely about internal conversations.)

The Daily Beast reported on Tuesday that Bannon had told his inner circle he would “put [Moore] in a grave myself” if it turned out Moore had been lying to him about the accusations—Moore insists they are false—and had been “taking the temperature” of allies to see how they thought he should proceed. And internally, some in Bannon’s circle have expressed concern at the unrelenting nature of the scandal and indicated they’re more worried than they appear to be publicly, according to a source with knowledge of these conversations.

Another source close to Bannon pushed back on the Daily Beast report and said Bannon still “stands by Judge Moore 1000 percent” and plans to send more reporters to Alabama, adding that there’s “zero chance” Bannon and Breitbart will back down. Bannon is, this person said, scheduled to appear at a rally organized by Moore’s friend and adviser Dean Young on December 5. Bannon is in Japan this week giving a speech.

“There’s healthy debate about the whole thing, that’s the way Breitbart is on anything,” the source said, referring to internal conversations about the Moore story. “There’s not strong disagreement in any sense of the word.”

Bannon has compared the Moore allegations to the Access Hollywood tape that leaked a month before the presidential election, which showed Trump bragging to TV host Billy Bush about groping women and kissing them against their will. The tape caused a similar political firestorm, with many top Republicans pulling their support of the nominee. Trump did apologize for his comments but stayed mostly defiant; in a move orchestrated by Bannon, the campaign brought four women who had accused Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct to the debate that was held shortly after the story broke. Despite being abandoned by much of his party’s establishment, Trump won.

Bannon speaks often of “Billy Bush weekend” and sees it as the ultimate litmus test of who was with or against them during the campaign. The story appeared to vindicate Bannon’s strategy of never compromising under pressure. But the Moore story is different from the Access Hollywood tape in key ways. As vulgar as Trump was on the tape, Trump and his allies insisted it was regrettable but ultimately harmless “locker-room talk,” despite the number of women who came out afterwards saying Trump had harassed them. Moore’s denials have done nothing to tamp down the furor, in part because he has appeared to acknowledge the stories have some truth to them even as he denies the most explosive charges.