North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson finally addressed accusations against him of wild impropriety Tuesday morning, weeks after a bombshell CNN report revealed that the MAGA politico had made a slew of disturbing comments on a pornographic messaging board prior to his foray into politics.
The brief, sparsely attended press conference featured just Robinson and his attorney, Jesse Binnall. The outlandish Republican announced his intention to sue the “left-wing” news outlet for defamation, seeking $50 million in damages for “reputational harm” over what he described as a “high-tech lynching.”
The CNN report, released in September, revealed Robinson had allegedly commented on websites about his desire to own slaves, peeping in womens’ locker rooms, and enjoying transgender porn. The outlet tied the account to Robinson via a “litany” of common biographical details and a shared email address. He also used his full name on his site account. The revelation saw a swift, mass exodus of Robinson’s campaign staffers after he refused multiple offers from I.T. specialists to help him investigate the origin of the comments.
In an attempt to wipe away the impact of the early October surprise, Robinson on Tuesday criticized the report’s publication as “one of the greatest examples of political interference in this state’s history and quite possibly this nation’s history.” Binnall, who worked for Donald Trump for several years and helped push the former president’s 2020 election conspiracy, argued that CNN had violated “journalistic standards” and “interfered with this election.”
The Republican gubernatorial nominee’s case will, of course, require evidence that the report had materially damaged his reputation, which was already considered pretty extreme due to Robinson’s openness about his other beliefs, including that he didn’t think schools would be getting “shot up” if they mandated instruction of the Bible in the classroom and that some people just “need killing!”
Robinson has also shared a host of his other disturbing positions online, including posts in which he minimized the horrors of the Holocaust, claimed a “satanic marxist” had made the movie Black Panther to pull “shekels” out of Black audiences, likened women getting abortions to murderers, and derided gay people as “filth” and “maggots.” Robinson has also expressed archaic views about women’s role in society, telling a Charlotte-area church in 2022 that Christians are “called to be led by men.”
But the dynamic duo of Robinson and his attorney had no smart response as to why the party had seemingly abandoned him in light of the latest slew of accusations.
“If your proof is so good, then why aren’t other Republicans standing with you? You’re by yourself,” one reporter asked.
“We stand with the voters—or, Governor Robinson stands with the voters of North Carolina,” Binnall said. “We’re going to go make our case in court. This case is for a jury.”
