WASHINGTON – Republican candidate for North Carolina governor Mark Robinson slammed “the false lies” about him in an investigative report by CNN on Monday. revealed years of disturbing comments which he made on a forum on a porn website.
But then in the same breath he suggested that perhaps those comments were his.
At a campaign rally, his first since the CNN report a mass exodus of staff During his campaign, Robinson, the state’s lieutenant governor, vowed to take legal action against CNN over the story. The report said, among other things, that Robinson called himself a “black Nazi,” described getting sexually aroused by sneaking peeks at women in public showers and called himself a “pervert” who enjoys transgender pornography ― a stark contrast to his current transphobic rhetoric.
“You better understand I’m going after CNN full throttle,” a visibly angry Robinson said told reporters about taking legal action against the news network.
“We’re not here to talk about 15- or 20-year-old, lustful, false lies,” he said. continued in a tirade.
But then, amid his shouting, he suggested that those earlier comments might be true after all: “They want to talk about what might have happened 15 years ago.”
You can watch a video clip of Robinson hedging here.
Robinson began denying the details of the CNN report before it even came out. On Thursday recorded a video as a precaution to say he didn’t drop out of the race because of CNN’s “salacious, tabloid trash.” But he’s had a hard time convincing his fellow Republicans that the report is bogus, given how thoroughly CNN’s reporters investigated who was behind the username that made disgusting comments on the porn site Nude Africa. Reporters immediately linked the username to many of Robinson’s biographical details and his shared email addresses.
Since the report came out, eight of Robinson’s campaign staffers, including his campaign manager, have resigned. A Raleigh news station, WRAL News, reported on monday that the staff finally broke up with Robinson ― already known for his sexist, racist, Islamophobic, homophobic and otherwise disgusting comments ― because he had rejected multiple offers from supporters to put him in touch with technical specialists to investigate who was using his username on the porn site. Seeing Robinson reject these offers of help seemed to sow doubt among his staff that he was telling the truth about the messages.
In addition to his staff resigning en masse, the Republican Governors Association said the will not spend any more money on ad buys for him in the state. GOP elected officials in North Carolina are to distance oneself Robinson out of fear of being associated with him in the final weeks before the November election. The Cook Political Report promptly changed his prediction for the North Carolina gubernatorial race from “leaning Democrat” to “likely Democrat.” Robinson is running against the state’s Democratic Attorney General, Josh Stein.
Even Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who enthusiastically endorsed Robinson in March and has praised him as “Martin Luther King on steroids,” has stayed away from him. Trump was messing around in North Carolina this weekend, and Robinson was nowhere to be found. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), Trump’s running mate, will hold a meeting Monday and has no plans to appear with Robinson or.
Over the weekend, some Republican senators were embarrassed when asked about Robinson’s next steps.
In a sunday interview On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said the CNN report’s findings are “beyond disturbing” and that if they are not true, Robinson could face a huge defamation lawsuit.
But if that is true, then Graham said he is “not fit to hold office.”
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who has never been a fan of Robinson, also said the Republican candidate for governor should take “immediate legal action” if the reporting is false.
But if it’s true, “he owes it to President Trump and every Republican to be accountable for his actions and put the future of North Carolina and our party above himself,” Tillis said. said on social media.
