Upcoming CNN story has Robinson on defense – Business North Carolina

Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson is expected to go on CNN today to defend himself regarding a pending story the national network is preparing, a campaign adviser says.

“I spoke to Mark this morning and he was prepared to go on CNN and defend himself against the allegations,” Jason Williams, a partner in Endgame Consulting, the agency handling Robinson’s campaign, said in a text response to a question.

Williams described the CNN story as a “hit piece.” The reported story makes explosive allegations regarding statements the national network says Robinson made on an online message board in 2009, Williams says. Robinson did not hold elected office until 2021, after his successful campaign for lieutenant governor in 2020.

“The main ones I remember were that they were alleging he made some extremely racist comments about Martin Luther King, referred to himself as a Black Nazi and used antisemitic language referring to Jews,” Williams stated in the text message.

Robinson denies making those statements. “He 100% denied it when I spoke to him,” says Williams.

At a lunch with business owners in Charlotte this week, Robinson said he is very pro-Israel and denied holding anti-Semitic views.

While Endgame is working on the campaign, Williams said he is not officially working on Robinson’s campaign team.

CNN had not posted a story about Robinson on its website at 12:30 p.m. today.

Robinson faces Attorney General Josh Stein, who is the Democratic Party candidate for governor.

The Carolina Journal, a conservative-leaning Raleigh publication, cited sources with direct knowledge as saying that members of Donald Trump’s campaign are pressing Robinson to withdraw from the governor’s race because of the pending CNN story.

A Robinson campaign spokesman said there is no truth to rumors that Robinson will step aside.

Tonight marks the state deadline to withdraw from the race, the Carolina Journal reported. It’s too late to remove Robinson’s name from the ballot with early voting starting in four weeks and absentee ballots going in the mail Friday.

It would be unprecedented for a gubernatorial candidate in North Carolina or adjoining states to withdraw from the election between receiving the nomination and the general election, according to Michael Bitzer, a Catawba College political science professor.