Mark Robinson Hires Law Firm To ‘Hold CNN Accountable’ Over Damaging Report

Republican North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson has hired a law firm to probe the CNN report that unearthed shocking comments he allegedly made on a porn website years ago, his campaign announced Tuesday.

In a statement, Robinson dismissed the contents of the article as “salacious lies” and vowed to stay focused on the issues important to the people of his state.

“I will not let these attacks distract us from sharing a better future for our state, and I’m glad to be able to bring Jesse Binnall and his team on board to investigate where and how these false smears originated,” Robinson said. “I am confident that Binnall Law Group will leave no stone unturned and enable us to use every legal means to hold CNN accountable for their lies.”

Binnall has in the past represented former President Donald Trump and some of his allies, according to The Daily Beast.

Robinson hinted at his plans to take legal action against the network on Monday in his first campaign appearance since the story broke.

“You’d better understand I am coming after CNN full-throttle,” he said.

Robinson has contested the accuracy of the story, while also suggesting the past comments may be real.

Several top members of his campaign resigned in the wake of the article, while Trump, who endorsed Robinson earlier this year and has praised him on multiple occasions, has sought to distance himself from the candidate and did not mention him during a campaign rally in the state over the weekend.

CNN’s KFile unit on Thursday published a report alleging that Robinson made racist and lewd posts on the message board of a pornography website called Nude Africa between 2008 and 2012, including referring to himself as a “black NAZI” and saying he supports the return of slavery, among other things.

While Robinson, who currently serves as the lieutenant governor of North Carolina, remains defiant, at least 10 Republicans and conservative groups have canceled events with him or removed social media posts tying them to Robinson, according to CNN.

Robinson is running against state Attorney General Josh Stein (D), who was leading in the polls even before the damaging story came out as Robinson’s history of making contentious statements had been highlighted by Democrats. The Cook Political Report on Friday shifted its rating for the race from “lean Democrat” to “likely Democrat” in light of the latest controversy surrounding the candidate.

Asked if the GOP should abandon Robinson over the alleged posts, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) replied: “Well, it won’t surprise you to know that I’m happy that there’s not a Senate race in North Carolina.”

Meanwhile, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) gave Robinson a deadline to produce evidence refuting the contents of the CNN investigation findings, saying that if he doesn’t manage to do this by Friday, the GOP should focus on other downballot candidates and the presidential race instead.

“If Mr. Robinson doesn’t put forth facts as part of a lawsuit that would discredit the sources by this week, then we’ve got to move on,” Tillis told CNN’s Manu Raju. “We’ve got an election that’s 40 days away, and we’ve got to move on.”