Two sources tell NewsNation’s Libbey Dean that embattled North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson was rushed to a hospital Friday night.
One source says that Robinson quickly left a campaign event in Mt. Airy, N.C., and remains in the hospital tonight.
Robinson has been under intense pressure to quit his campaign for governor, and even to resign his current post, since CNN found old social media posts in which Robinson referred to himself as a ‘black NAZI;” said he enjoyed transgender pornography; said in 2012 he preferred Hitler to then-President Barack Obama; and slammed the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as “worse than a maggot.”
Brian LiVecchi, Robinson’s chief of staff and general counsel, will resign effective next Tuesday, according to a friend. Over the weekend, Robinson announced that four key staff members on his gubernatorial campaign staff had left their jobs.
Robinson denied writing the messages that CNN says were from more than a decade ago. He said Tuesday his campaign has hired a law firm to help investigate how what Robinson calls “false smears” originated. But that hasn’t stopped top Republicans from distancing themselves from Robinson.
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump endorsed Robinson before the March primary and has let Robinson speak at the former president’s in-state rallies. But he was not involved in Trump rallies on Wednesday in suburban Charlotte and last weekend in Wilmington.
This is a developing story. Check back for update. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
