Former President Donald Trump has yet to speak publicly following CNN‘s explosive report on Trump’s endorsee for North Carolina’s gubernatorial race, Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson, which resurfaced comments the Republican nominee made on a pornography website over a decade ago.
The report on Thursday claims that Robinson posted messages on the adult website “Nude Africa” from 2008 to 2012—years before Robinson was elected lieutenant governor in 2022. The disturbing messages linked to Robinson, who is Black, include the conservative reportedly describing himself as a “black NAZI!” and more graphic comments regarding sexuality: “I like watching tranny on girl porn! … It takes the man out while leaving the man in! And yeah I’m a ‘perv’ too!”
Robinson, the GOP nominee for North Carolina’s gubernatorial race in the fall, has faced pressure from within his own party to drop out of the election by the end of the day Thursday. The first batch of absentee ballots are set to be mailed out on Friday.
Trump, the GOP nominee for president, endorsed Robinson for governor in March, ahead of North Carolina’s primary election. At the time, the former president compared Robinson to civil rights leader the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., telling supporters at a rally in Greensboro that Robinson is “Martin Luther King on steroids.”
“I think you’re better than Martin Luther King,” Trump added. “I think you are Martin Luther King times two.”
Vice President Kamala Harris‘ campaign shared videos to its X, formerly Twitter, account Thursday afternoon of Trump praising Robinson at several campaign events, including one clip in which Trump describes the candidate as “a star” before a group of donors.
“We have to cherish Mark … he’s like a fine wine,” Trump said in the video. “He’s an outstanding person.”
Robinson was also a featured speaker in July at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where he called to elect Trump back into the White House to “restore our American dream” and “make America great again.”
The Trump campaign was said to be among GOP leaders who are urging Robinson to drop out of the race. But the lieutenant governor has resisted such calls. In a video message released to his social media accounts on Thursday minutes before CNN’s story was published, Robinson denied that he was behind the posts included in the report, and called it “tabloid trash.”
“The things you see in that story are not my words,” Robinson said. “You know my words, my character, and I’ve been completely transparent in this campaign.”
Newsweek has reached out to Trump’s campaign via email for further comment on Thursday.
North Carolina is viewed as a critical battleground state in the presidential race. In 2020, Trump beat President Joe Biden in the Tar Heel State by just 1.3 percentage points, the narrowest gap among all states won by Trump.
Robinson aims to succeed term-limited Governor Roy Cooper, a Democrat and top surrogate for Harris’ campaign. He is up against North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, who, according to The Carolina Journal, leaked the story about Robinson’s past remarks on the porn site to CNN.
