Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the North Carolina Republican gubernatorial candidate, is suing CNN for defamation after the outlet released a report including allegations he called himself a “black Nazi.”
The defamation lawsuit was filed in Wake County Superior Court and seeks $50 million in damages from CNN.
“Today, we are taking the first steps to do exactly what I said I was going to do after these scurrilous attacks were launched against myself and my family,” Robinson told reporters Tuesday alongside his attorney Jesse Binnall. “We are holding CNN accountable. We are going to get to the bottom of what’s going on here.”
The lieutenant governor then repeated his previous accusation against CNN, saying it attempted a “high-tech lynching” with the article. His attorney said it was used to interfere in Robinson’s election.
“We expect to find that there are more bad actors that have been involved in this process to interfere in the election. And there’s more to come,” Binnall said.
His attorney said there have been people who have interfered with the investigation by “stonewalling” but that his team will use the subpoena power to “pursue the facts.”
CNN’s report alleged Robinson posted racist and homophobic comments, among other things, on a pornographic forum called “NudeAfrica.” Robinson is alleging CNN ignored the fact that his data were breached before publishing.
CNN “chose to publish despite knowing or recklessly disregarding that Lt. Gov. Robinson’s data, including his name, date of birth, passwords, and the email address supposedly associated with the NudeAfrica account, were previously compromised by multiple data breaches,” the lawsuit says.
The Washington Examiner contacted Robinson’s campaign and CNN but did not receive a response.
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The report has had immense consequences for Robinson’s campaign. Several staffers left the campaign after the report was released, and former President Donald Trump has yet to appear with the lieutenant governor since it was released.
Robinson’s campaign has been perceived to be toxic by Vice President Kamala Harris’s team, which has sought to associate Trump with Robinson in an effort to lessen the former president’s support in the state.