NRSC severs fundraising ties with Roy Moore

The Senate's campaign arm severed ties with Alabama GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore after an explosive report published Thursday in The Washington Post that featured four women who said Moore pursued them decades ago when he was an assistant district attorney and they were teenagers.

Posted 6:14 p.m. Nov 10, 2017 — Updated 6:14 p.m. Nov 10, 2017

Daniella Diaz (CNN)

WASHINGTON (CNN) — The Senate's campaign arm severed ties with Alabama GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore after an explosive report published Thursday in The Washington Post that featured four women who said Moore pursued them decades ago when he was an assistant district attorney and they were teenagers.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee was dropped from a joint fundraising agreement that benefits Moore's campaign, paperwork filed Friday with the FEC shows.

The agreement still includes the other participants --- the Republican National Committee, the Alabama Republican Party and Moore's campaign.

The NRSC and RNC did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment Friday. NRSC chairman, Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, said in a statement Thursday following the release of the story, "If these allegations are found to be true, Roy Moore must drop out of the Alabama special Senate election."

This is the latest step by for the GOP to distance itself from Moore. On Thursday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Republicans publicly said Moore should step aside but only if the allegatons by the four women from the explosive Washington Post report are true.

"If these allegations are true, he must step aside," McConnell said in a statement.

The Washington Post alleged Thursday that Moore initiated a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old girl when he was 32. Three other women also told the Post that Moore pursued them when they were between the ages of 16 and 18 and he was in his early 30s. Moore told the Post: "These allegations are completely false and are a desperate political attack by the National Democrat Party and The Washington Post on this campaign."

Utah Sen. Mike Lee also asked that photos of him be removed from Moore's fundraising messages.

"The Moore campaign never asked if they could use Sen. Lee's image, and when we were alerted that they were we asked them to stop," Lee's spokesperson Conn Carroll told CNN.

After The Washington Post article published, Moore sent out a fundraising pitch that included a photo of him with Lee, as well as GOP Sens. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul.

Since the request, the ad has removed Lee but still features Cruz and Paul.

Representatives for Cruz and Paul did not immediately return CNN's request for comment.

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