Robinson rejected offers of tech help to investigate posts on porn site, sources say

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson rejected multiple offers from supporters to connect him with information technology specialists to help the Republican gubernatorial nominee investigate racist and lewd comments on a pornographic website made by someone with a username that CNN tied to Robinson, people directly familiar with the matter told WRAL on Monday.

Robinson’s alleged rejection of the offers sowed doubt among some staff members, the people said. His response in the wake of the report likely played a role in the exodus of some staff members, they said. At least eight campaign staff members quit the campaign on Sunday, including Robinson’s campaign manager and finance director. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they feared professional retribution.

Details of Robinson’s declination were shared with WRAL on the same day the candidate told reporters that he’s forming a team to help him refute the CNN report. He also said he’s working to rebuild his campaign staff weeks before the Nov. 5 election.

Robinson said during a meet-and-greet with voters in Wilkes County that he’s considering “everything up to legal counsel to take CNN to task for what they have done to us. We are going after them.”

He added: “We are not gonna let CNN throw us off of our mission. Our mission is to win this race.”

A spokesperson for CNN didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

CNN reported Thursday that an account tied to Robinson made posts praising Nazis, calling for the reinstatement of slavery and describing pornographic preferences, among other things. Robinson referred to himself in posts as a “Black Nazi” and said he liked “[transgender]-on-girl porn,” using a slur for transgender people, CNN reported. The posts appeared on the website “Nude Africa.” CNN connected the posts to Robinson through user names, profile pictures and email accounts, and the network explained those connections in its investigative piece.

Robinson, the state’s first Black lieutenant governor, has made opposition to transgender rights a key focus of many speeches in recent years.

Robinson has denied the allegations, but some fellow Republicans want him to take further action. They’ve encouraged him to prove that he didn’t post the comments and to sue if the allegations are indeed false.

Politico reported Monday that Robinson’s account on Nude Africa was registered with an IP address tied to Winston-Salem, not far from where Robinson lived at the time. The account information was leaked during a 2018 data breach by Nude Africa’s parent website “Wife Lovers,” Politico reported.

Campaign staffers worried about the veracity of Robinson’s denial after he rejected offers to hire tech specialists to investigate the matter, people familiar with the matter told WRAL. The people also said Robinson initially declined legal help. One of the people doubted that Robinson was serious about going after CNN, despite his comments on Monday.

Mike Lonergan, a spokesperson for the Robinson campaign, denied the account on Monday.

“That is entirely false. Lt. Gov. Robinson is in the process of retaining aggressive legal counsel to investigate who did this and how; we will leave no stone unturned, and will use every legal means to hold CNN and whomever else is involved accountable,” Lonergan said.

“Meanwhile Lt. Gov. Robinson will continue sharing his vision for North Carolina with folks all over the state,” Longergan added.

In his interview with CNN, Robinson said he was the victim of a “high-tech lynching.”

“The things that people can do with the internet now is incredible,” he said. “… I have absolutely no idea how it was done.”

On Friday, U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina called on Robinson to sue if the allegations in the CNN report were false, lest he hurt the chances of former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, winning North Carolina’s 16 electoral votes.

“If the reporting on Mark Robinson is a total media fabrication, he needs to take immediate legal action,” Tillis posted on social media. “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 (and) our party before himself.”

Pressure had been mounting on Robinson in recent weeks, when some Republicans saw his poor polling numbers as a potential drag on Trump in this battleground state. A WRAL News Poll in early September found the presidential race statistically tied, but Robinson trailing Democratic opponent Josh Stein by double digits.

During a visit to Wilmington on Saturday, Trump — who, until recently, frequently praised Robinson from the stage at rallies in the state — didn’t mention the candidate he frequently compared to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. The two haven’t shared a stage in more than a month. Trump is scheduled to speak in Mint Hill on Wednesday.

Asked last week whether Trump was endorsing Robinson, the former president’s campaign issued a statement that didn’t mention the lieutenant governor.

On Monday, the Republican Governors Association — which had scheduled to run pro-Robinson ads in North Carolina through Tuesday — said that “no further [ad] placements have been made” beyond that date.

“RGA remains committed to electing Republican Governors all across the country,” said Courtney Alexander, a spokesperson for the association.

The statement came less than 24 hours after Lonergan said in a news release that Robinson’s campaign manager and deputy campaign manager, Chris Rodriguez and Jason Rizk, had stepped down from those roles.

Heather Whillier, a prominent GOP fundraiser who was Robinson’s finance director, and Conrad Pogorzelski, the campaign’s senior advisor who was also a key part of Robinson’s history-making 2020 campaign, also resigned.

“I appreciate the efforts of these team members who have made the difficult choice to step away from the campaign, and I wish them well in their future endeavors,” Robinson said in a written statement.

Pogorzelski confirmed the news when reached Sunday.

“The reports are true that I, along with others from the campaign have left of our own accord,” he said in a text message, adding in the names of several more staffers who he said also quit but who weren’t listed in Robinson’s press release.

As of just a few months ago, Robinson’s campaign had spent more on securing the services of Whillier and Pogorzelski than it had on any ad campaign or other expense. Of the $9 million his campaign had spent as of the end of June, $3.3 million went to firms run by the two of them, according to state campaign finance records.

Fifty-one percent of likely November voters support Stein and 37% support Robinson, with 11% undecided, according to the WRAL News Poll of 676 likely voters, which was released this month. The gap has widened significantly since March, when the previous WRAL News Poll showed Stein with a 44%-to-42% lead over Robinson.

In the same September poll, Trump trailed Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris by just three points.

Republican vice-presidential nominee JD Vance was scheduled to return to North Carolina to talk in Charlotte on Monday, less than a week after a speech in Raleigh. Vance, a U.S. senator from Ohio, was asked Saturday if he was comfortable with Robinson as the Republican nominee in North Carolina.

“The allegations are pretty far out there, of course, but I know the allegations aren’t necessarily reality,” Vance told NBC News. “And what I’d say is, it’s ultimately up to Mark Robinson and North Carolina whether he’s going to be their governor and whether he wants to stay in the race. I’ll let them make that decision.”

Vance added that he doesn’t have any plans to campaign with Robinson and instead would focus on Trump’s campaign messaging. “We’ll keep on talking about those issues,” Vance said, “but we don’t have any plans to campaign with him.”

WRAL State Government Reporter Will Doran and Brian Murphy contributed to this report.