Robinson offers ‘complete cooperation and full transparency’ in probe of porn-comments report

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson said Thursday that his legal team has launched his promised investigation into allegations in a CNN report that he made lewd and racist on a pornographic website more than a decade ago.

Robinson — the Republican nominee for governor who has a long history of inflammatory statements about the LGBTQ community, Jewish people and women — said Tuesday that his team had hired Binnall Law Group to investigate the matter. The firm is led by Virginia-based attorney Jesse Binnall, who was one of former President Donald Trump’s lawyers in disputing the results of the 2020 election.

“Jesse Binnall and his team have launched a full-scale investigation into the allegations leveled against me by CNN,” Robinson said on social media Thursday. “I have offered them complete cooperation and full transparency as they do so. I fully expect the facts are going to come to light quickly, and I intend to utilize every available means to hold CNN accountable for what they have done.”

CNN hasn’t responded to WRAL’s requests for comment on the matter.

The news network last week published a report that linked Robinson to posts on the website Nude Africa praising Nazis, calling for the reinstatement of slavery, and describing explicit pornographic preferences. In one post, the account tied to Robinson called himself “a Black Nazi,” CNN reported. The network tied Robinson to the account with his email address, profile picture and user name that matched ones he used on other sites. The comments were made before Robinson entered public office.

Robinson immediately denied the report last week, suggesting he was the victim of internet trickery. He has since faced pressure from top state Republicans to offer proof substantiating the denials.

U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis said Tuesday that he would give Robinson until the end of the week to take action to prove the denials, suggesting to reporters that endorsements should be rescinded if he didn’t. Tillis previously expressed concern about how Robinson could affect the campaign of former President Donald Trump, who is again the Republican nominee for president.

“If the reporting on Mark Robinson is a total media fabrication, he needs to take immediate legal action,” Tillis said Friday in a social media post. “If the reporting is true, he owes it to President Trump and every Republican to take accountability for his actions and put the future of NC & our party before himself.”

A Tillis spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

New endorsement

People familiar with Robinson’s operations previously told WRAL News that Robinson initially declined multiple offers from supporters to connect him with information technology specialists to help investigate the matter. His rejection is among the likely reasons why some campaign staff members quit in the wake of the CNN report, the people said, according to the WRAL report, which was published Monday.

Politico reported Monday that “the IP address listed with Robinson’s Nude Africa account is located in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina where he lived,” and that a data breach of passwords showed the Nude Africa account’s password “was nearly identical to a password used by three separate accounts registered under his wife’s email address on non-pornographic websites.”

Robinson has trailed his Democratic opponent Josh Stein, the state’s sitting attorney general, in most recent polls. A new Elon University Poll, released Tuesday, showed Robinson trailing Stein by 14 percentage points. In the same poll, Trump trailed Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, by just one point.

Robinson said Thursday, without evidence, that “the media is working hand-in-hand with Josh Stein to distract the public from the real issues facing the great people of North Carolina.”

A spokesperson for the Stein campaign declined to comment.

Since the news broke, the Republican Governors Association has said it will no longer fund ads on Robinson’s behalf — notable since it had been thought to be putting more money into advertising than Robinson’s own campaign had. Two Republican governors of neighboring states who had previously endorsed Robinson, Tennessee’s Bill Lee and Georgia’s Brian Kemp, rescinded their endorsements. Lee leads the Republican Governors Association.

Robinson on Thursday announced a new endorsement: From the pro-Trump energy industry group, the Oil & Gas Workers of America. It claims 47,000 members across 33 states. “Out-of-control federal spending, coupled with crippling energy regulations and higher taxes pushed by far-left radicals like Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and Josh Stein, have been killing oil and gas jobs for years,” the group wrote.

Federal data paints a different picture: The number of American jobs in the oil and gas extraction industry dropped during the Trump administration, from 149,000 in January 2017 to 115,000 in January 2021. The number of industry jobs have risen slightly since then under the Biden administration, to 118,000 as of August.

‘The Mark Robinson that I know’

Late Thursday, Robinson sought to bend the narrative in his direction. His campaign issued a robust schedule of appearances planned throughout the state on Friday. And, in a new video, Robinson’s wife, Yolanda Hill, urged voters to “forget what you have heard,” following a montage of news reports about Robinson.

“Mark has been a wonderful husband, father and grandfather, always being there for our children and grandchildren,” Hill says in the video. “… He is tenacious and passionate, whether he is working to support our family or working to make life better for North Carolinians. He is known sometimes to raise his voice and raise a ruckus, but it is all because of the passion he has to protect North Carolina and to protect you.”

She added: “There’s the Mark Robinson they show, then there’s the Mark Robinson that I know. The Mark Robinson that I know is a man who cares deeply, fights relentlessly. … Give him a chance. I sure did. And it’s the best decision I’ve ever made.”

The ad, which links to Hill’s website that features a “Women for Robinson” banner, illustrates Robinson’s attempt to win over women voters, who he has struggled to win over.

“A candidate’s wife defending her husband typically has little effect on the campaign,” said David McLennan, a political scientist at Meredith College.

WRAL state government reporters Will Doran and Paul Specht contributed to this report.