North Carolina’s former Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson (R) said he would end his lawsuit against CNN on Friday.
Last year, the then-gubernatorial candidate was the center of a scandalous CNN report exposing the inflammatory comments he made on a pornographic website. (RELATED: North Carolina GOP Gubernatorial Nominee Denies Bombshell Allegations From CNN Report, Vows To Stay In Race)
“The fact of the matter is this: the price we have paid in entering the political arena will never be recognized. There is no dollar amount high enough. While it has been the honor of a lifetime to serve the people of North Carolina, the continued political persecution of my family and loved ones is a cost I am unwilling to continue to bear,” Robinson wrote in a statement on social platform X.
“I give great thanks to Jesse Binnall and his team of investigators for their countless hours of work, dedication, and compassion. The investigation of CNN and their ‘sources’ yielded tremendous results and brought closure to our family during what has been an unimaginably dark situation.”
Robinson faced pressure to drop out of the governor’s race after the CNN report.
The CNN story was published online in September 2024 and laid out inflammatory and offensive comments Robinson reportedly made on a porn website’s message board more than a decade ago, including some in which he called himself a “black NAZI” and said he would like to own slaves.
The bombshell report sparked the resignation of several key staffers to Robinson’s campaign.
He filed a case against CNN in October seeking $50 million in damages but decided to drop the lawsuit after losing the governorship to Democrat Josh Stein.
Robinson said his political ambitions have reached the end of the road.
“I will continue to utilize my platform to promote and support many of the issues we are all so passionate about; however, at this time, I will do so from the sidelines. I will not run next year, nor do I have plans to seek elected office in the future,” he wrote on X.
