Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said on Sunday that Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R) of North Carolina owes his constituents an explanation following the “concerning” allegations outlined in a recent bombshell CNN report.
In an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” anchor Jake Tapper pressed Cotton on the recent CNN report about the North Carolina Republican gubernatorial candidate and about past public comments Robinson has made about Jews.
“Look, I’ve seen these allegations, Jake, and they’re concerning allegations,” Cotton said when asked whether he likes the lieutenant governor and thinks Robinson should be the next governor of North Carolina.
“He owes the people of North Carolina more answers about it,” Cotton said after Tapper noted Robinson made some antisemitic comments on his public Facebook page.
“But we’re talking about the presidential race here that matters to everyone, not just the people one state,” he continued, adding, “Kamala Harris owes the American people a lot more answers.”
Asked whether former President Trump should still support Robinson’s bid for governor, Cotton said, “I’ll leave that to President Trump, and most importantly, I’ll leave it to the people of North Carolina.”
CNN published an explosive report Thursday about Robinson, revealing a wide range of inflammatory comments that he reportedly made on a pornography website’s message board more than 10 years ago, including calling himself a “black NAZI” and wishing for slavery to be reinstated.
An account with the username “minisoldr” made the posts, and CNN identified the account as belonging to Robinson based on his full name being listed on the account, him using the username on other sites, an email address that Robinson used elsewhere and biographical details that line up with his background.
Robinson has said he would remain in the race amid concerns about the viability of his candidacy. He also alleged in a video posted to the social platform X shortly before the article’s publication that Democratic nominee Josh Stein’s campaign leaked the story to CNN. Robinson insisted that the details of the story are false.
“Let me assure you, the things you will see in that story, those are not the words of Mark Robinson,” he said. “You know my words. You know my character, and you know that I have been completely transparent in this race and before.”
“We are staying in this race. We are in it to win it,” he said.
