NC governor’s race: Fallout for Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson as pressure mounts on Republicans
We may just be beginning to see the fallout over a CNN report about Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, tying his online presence, email and username on multiple platforms to vulgar, racist and sexually explicit posts on a pornography website. Robinson denies the information in the report, calling it “tabloid trash.”
He also pointed to his opponent, Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein, as to blame for the report.
CNN published Thursday afternoon a long, detailed story about Robinson’s alleged online comments made about a decade ago, which he denied to CNN in an interview as well, included saying “I’m a Black Nazi!” and “Slavery is not bad. Some people need to be slaves. I wish they would bring it (slavery) back. I would certainly buy a few.”
The fallout was immediate, even as Robinson put out his own video less than an hour ahead of CNN publishing their report detailing the comments and showing evidence of why they alleged Robinson was behind the posts.
Politico has since reported that Robinson’s email address was registered on the website Ashley Madison, for married people seeking affairs, with an anonymous adviser confirming the address was Robinson’s, but his campaign spokesperson denying that Robinson made an account.
Some Republicans have already begun to disavow Robinson, while many are staying silent, at least publicly. Other removed photos with him from their social media.
And as I was interviewed on an episode of NBC’s Meet the Press NOW on Friday, NBC reported that Trump does not want to pull his endorsement of Robinson, despite Republican advisers telling him he should.
Republican State Treasurer Dale Folwell, who talked to me on Thursday when the news broke, said that Robinson has “fleeced” North Carolina taxpayers and the donors who are supporting his campaign.
Also in that same story, Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Budd said the “comments reported in the article are disgusting. Mark Robinson says they are not from him. He needs to prove that to the voters.” And state Senate candidate Scott Lassiter explained why he wants Robinson to drop out.
You can read all our coverage at newsobserver.com. Here are a few more stories that cover other aspects:
▪ Reporter Kyle Ingram wrote about whether Republicans could replace Robinson on the ballot. That scenario expired at midnight Thursday, but you can read about why that’s the rule.
▪ DC correspondent Danielle Battaglia noted in this story all of the late-night comedy jokes about Robinson as he became national news.
▪ And here’s the original breaking news story by all three of us on Thursday.
With more coverage to come, here’s another story from Avi Bajpai about Trump and Robinson, and you can read our coverage of Trump’s rally in Wilmington in The N&O.
As of Friday evening, Robinson had a campaign event scheduled for Monday in Wilkesboro to meet voters.
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Don’t forget to follow our Under the Dome tweets and listen to our Under the Dome podcast to stay up to date. Our new episode posts Monday morning, and I’m joined by our Washington correspondent Danielle Battaglia to talk about the presidential race and Robinson’s impact on it, plus the latest on Congress and threats of a federal government shutdown.
You can sign up to receive the Under the Dome newsletter at newsobserver.com/newsletters. Want your friends to get our email, too? Forward them this newsletter so they can sign up. You can also email me questions you may have about the governor’s race at dvaughan@newsobserver.com.
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