North Carolina’s Robinson, omitted from Trump rally, avoids comment on report about online posts

North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson avoided directly weighing in during a gubernatorial campaign event Saturday on a CNN report outlining evidence that he made disturbing posts on a pornography website’s message board more than a decade ago.

And Robinson, a Republican who normally functions as one of Donald Trump’s top surrogates in battleground North Carolina, was not mentioned by the former president and current presidential candidate during a Saturday speech elsewhere in the state that lasted just over an hour.

In his first public appearance since Thursday’s CNN report, Robinson spent several minutes Saturday evening speaking and leading a prayer at the Fayetteville Motor Speedway. He didn’t mention the CNN report or answer questions from reporters on hand, according to news reports.

“We’re going to focus on the issues that you are concerned with,” Robinson said. “While everybody else wants to focus on the garbage, and the trash that tries to besmirch people, we’re out here telling people about what we want to do, how we want to partner with you to make this state better and help North Carolina be better.”

Robinson earlier denied writing the posts, which include lewd and racist comments, saying Thursday that he wouldn’t be forced out of the race by “salacious tabloid lies.”

He directed his focus on other issues Saturday. “We’re going to work our butts off to make sure that we build an economy in this state that works for everybody,” Robinson said.

His appearance Saturday came the same day Trump held a presidential campaign event in Wilmington.

Trump’s campaign has appeared to distance itself from Robinson in the wake of the CNN reporting, which the AP has not independently verified, saying in a statement that Trump “is focused on winning the White House and saving this country” and calling North Carolina “a vital part of that plan” without mentioning Robinson.

Robinson has been a frequent presence at Trump’s North Carolina campaign stops. The Republican presidential nominee has referred to Robinson, who is Black, as “Martin Luther King on steroids” and has long praised him.

Robinson has a long history of making inflammatory comments, including suggesting women who sought abortion “weren’t responsible enough to keep your skirt down” and comparing abortion to slavery.

Already before CNN’s report, Robinson was trailing in several recent polls to Democratic nominee Josh Stein, the state attorney general. Robinson has vowed to remain in the race.

Stein said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Robinson is “utterly unqualified, unfit to be the governor of North Carolina, and we’re going to do everything in our power to keep that from happening.”

Polls show Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris locked in a close race in North Carolina and nationally. Democrats have seized on the opportunity to highlight Trump’s ties to Robinson, with billboards showing the two together and a new ad from Harris’ campaign highlighting the Republican candidates’ ties, as well as Robinson’s support for a statewide abortion ban without exceptions.

On Sunday, Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, of South Carolina, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Robinson deserves a chance to defend himself against the allegations, which Graham described as “unnerving.” He said Robinson is “a political zombie if he does not offer a defense to this that’s credible,” while arguing the issue wouldn’t hurt Trump.

“If they’re true, he’s unfit to serve for office,” Graham said of Robinson and the claims in the CNN report. “If they’re not true, he has the best lawsuit in the history of the country for libel.”