(The Center Square) – Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, Republican candidate for governor of North Carolina, has sued Cable News Network, also known as CNN, and Louis Love Money.
The filing was made in Wake County Superior Court on Tuesday morning. Robinson accuses CNN and Money of defamation, saying Money’s claims are “completely unsubstantiated and defamatory.”
Robinson seeks relief to include “all income the defendants have made off of their lies” in an amount proven at trial to be no less than $50 million.
Robinson, in a prepared statement released, said, “As I’ve said from the beginning, the claims from leftist media like CNN and grifters like Louis Love Money are salacious tabloid trash. CNN’s disgraceful and dishonest smears against me and my family amount to a 21st century, high-tech lynching.”
Robinson is represented by Jesse Binnall and the Binnall Law Group.
The CNN story appeared on Sept. 19 under the headline “‘I’m a black NAZI!’: NC GOP nominee for governor made dozens of disturbing comments on porn forum.” A replaying video is atop the story with comments he made 14 years ago.
The story refers to comments he is accused of making between 2008 and 2012. CNN said it authenticated its findings based on biographical information of Robinson compared to the poster on multiple websites, and a common email address.
Robinson on the same day released a video vowing to stay in the race for governor against Attorney General Josh Stein.
“Let me reassure you that the things that you will see in that story – those are not the words of Mark Robinson,” he says. “You know my words; you know my character and you know that I have been completely transparent in this race and before.
“Folks, this race right now, our opponents are desperate to shift the focus from the substantive issues and focus on what you are concerned with, to salacious tabloid trash. We cannot allow that to happen.”
Robinson and Stein were considered a toss-up race earlier in the calendar year, even into the spring. During the summer and since, polling suggests Stein has begun to create separation. After the CNN story dropped, so did Robinson’s polling numbers.
An Emerson College poll of 1,000 likely voters taken Oct. 5-8 had Stein ahead 49.5%-34.4% with 11.3% still undecided.
Robinson’s release notes national news wire The Associated Press has reported but not confirmed the CNN findings.
The release also notes a “deep-pocketed” Stein donor “committed to spend $1 million against Mark Robinson by using artificial intelligence to fabricate audio clips of things the lieutenant governor didn’t say.” It is a donor sued by the Security and Exchange Commission and by factory workers’ families for fraud, the release said.
Todd Stiefel, originator of the political action committee Americans for Prosparody, is the donor. Robinson’s release says, “While Stein’s team claimed to disavow Stiefel, they have yet to disavow his campaign contributions.”
In a campaign stop on Monday in Ayden, The Daily Reflector reported Robinson told his audience at Bum’s Restaurant, “Why they doing all this, folks? Why are they spending $50 million on a guy they said couldn’t win the governor’s mansion? Because they know we can. They know good and well what’s at stake here.”
