In effort to refute porn-site message report, Mark Robinson campaign hires a law firm

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson said Tuesday his campaign has hired a law firm to help investigate a CNN report stating he made explicit racial and sexual posts on a pornography website’s message board.

The lawyers will look at how what Robinson calls “false smears” originated.

The announcement comes as more North Carolina Republicans disturbed by last week’s report said that if Robinson can’t formally refute the accusations quickly, the GOP should shift its focus to competitive in-state races.

Other Republicans already have abandoned Robinson, the sitting lieutenant governor. The Republican Governors Association said Monday it will no longer support Robinson. His campaign had benefitted from the group spending millions of dollars in advertising in his race with Democratic nominee Josh Stein, whom polls have shown leading Robinson. Most of Robinson’s top campaign staffers also quit in the report’s fallout.

GOP officials are anxious that Robinson’s situation could pull down Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and help Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in the battleground state, and threaten the outcomes of other key seats on the ballot.

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