Corey Lewandowski, a senior official on Donald Trump's presidential campaign, was confronted on Saturday morning by CNN's Michael Smerconish about the scandal concerning Republican North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson and its effect on the race in the swing state.
Robinson, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, the GOP's presidential nominee, has said he will not drop out of the gubernatorial race after a CNN report uncovered alleged activity on an adult website more than a decade ago, including posts that Robinson allegedly called himself a "Black NAZI," defended slavery, repeated homophobic slurs and fondly recalling "peeping" on women. CNN did not include many of the posts given their graphic nature.
On Friday, The Washington Post reported that "minisoldr," the username believed to be affiliated with Robinson on the Nude Africa pornography website, also expressed an affinity for Nazi literature.
"Mein Kampf is a good read," the user reportedly wrote in a thread on book recommendations. "It's very informative and not at all what I thought it would be. It's a real eye opener."
Robinson denied that he was behind those posts to CNN, and also in a video message posted to his social media accounts in the minutes before the story was published. "The things you see in that story are not my words. You know my words, my character, and I've been completely transparent in this campaign," he said in the video.
Robinson's campaign communications director Mike Lonergan blamed the reported posts on Josh Stein, Robinson's Democratic gubernatorial opponent, in a statement emailed to Newsweek on Friday.
"Everything Josh Stein [and] the Democrats say about Mark Robinson is either an outright lie or twisted so far out of context it might as well be," Lonergan said. "The people of North Carolina have had enough lies from career politicians like Josh Stein—and that's why they'll elect Mark Robinson governor on November 5."
The emergence of the scandal quickly sparked concerns about Robinson potentially harming Trump's chances in North Carolina, a pivotal swing state that could decide this year's tight presidential contest. Robinson, who Trump has previously called "Martin Luther King on steroids," is not scheduled to speak or appear at Trump's rally on Saturday afternoon in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Newsweek has emailed Robinson's office on Saturday morning for comment.
On Saturday, Smerconish asked Lewandowski at the top of the interview, "Will former President Trump say anything about Mark Robinson when he takes that stage today in North Carolina?"
Lewandowski replied, "We'll have to wait and see. Listen, we're not focused on Mark Robinson, we're focused on winning a presidential election. I've never seen a presidential candidate who has either benefitted or had a detriment by a candidate on a down ballot from him. Donald Trump is at the top of ticket. He's going to lay out his vision for America, which is a very different vision from what Kamala Harris wants."
Trump won North Carolina in the 2016 and 2020 elections. However, his margin of victory in 2020 was slim with him receiving 49.9 percent of the vote and now-President Joe Biden getting 48.6 percent. According to poll aggregator FiveThirtyEight, Trump currently leads Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Presidential nominee, by just 0.1 points (47.5 percent to 47.4 percent).
Robinson's alleged comments could not only hurt his race against Stein, North Carolina's attorney general, but GOP prospects in other races, including Trump's.
Lewandowski, who stressed that Trump is a two-time winner of North Carolina, was asked on Saturday if Trump believes Robinson's denials.
"I haven't spoken to him [Trump] specifically about that. I've traveled with him, and the topic hasn't come up. It's up to Mark Robinson. He has said these things were not accurate, but I don't know if they are or are not," Lewandowski added.
On Friday, Senator Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, posted on X, formerly Twitter, "If the reporting on Mark Robinson is a total media fabrication, he needs to take immediate legal action. If the reporting is true, he owes it to President Trump and every Republican to take accountability for his actions and put the future of NC & our party before himself."
Smerconish read that statement to Lewandowski and asked for his response.
"The problem with this one, Michael, is the deadline to get off ballot has since passed. Ballots were sent out yesterday. Mark Robinson is going to be the Republican nominee regardless of what this is," Lewandowski said.
The North Carolina Republican Party did not attempt to halt the mailing of ballots on Friday, undergoing to overseas and military voters, which means Robinson will remain on the ballot. Thursday marked the latest possible moment that Republicans could have legally challenged the ballot.
The state's GOP also published a statement on X in defense of Robinson and wrote, "Mark Robinson has categorically denied the allegations made by CNN but that won't stop the Left from trying to demonize him via personal attacks." The statement called this an attempt to "smear" Robinson before the election.
If Robinson steps down, the North Carolina Republican Party's executive committee would be given the responsibility of selecting a successor. In the event that party leaders do need to nominate a new candidate, they would also need to embark on a rapid campaign to clarify to voters that any votes cast for Robinson would be transferred to the incoming candidate. Such a strategy is typically only employed in exceptional cases, for example, when a candidate dies shortly before an election.
On Saturday, Lewandowski questioned the timing of the release of the story and reiterated the campaign's focus on its race against Harris.
"What's amazing is the timing of this story. Obviously, it came out on the last day [before ballots were released]. He denied it. I have not spoken to him or anybody with his campaign. But that's up to him [Robinson] to figure out. We're solely focused on the presidential election."