Donald Trump is facing calls both from his allies and from within his own campaign to pull his endorsement of scandal-plagued North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson, according to four people familiar with the discussions.
So far, however, there are no plans for the former president to formally drop him.
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CNN reported Thursday that Robinson posted a series of offensive comments on a pornography website between 2008 and 2012, before he became lieutenant governor. In a statement, the Trump campaign did not directly address the underlying reporting about Robinson, whom the former president endorsed in March and has called "Martin Luther King on steroids."
"President Trump's campaign is focused on winning the White House and saving the country," Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. "North Carolina is a vital part of that plan. We are confident that as voters compare the Trump record of a strong economy, low inflation, a secure border, and safe streets, with the failure of Biden-Harris, then President Trump will win the Tarheel State once again."
There are pockets of advisers within the Trump campaign who have quietly been urging him to withdraw his endorsement of Robinson, but so far those requests have fallen on deaf ears, according to a campaign official who, like others in this piece, was granted anonymity to speak about the matter freely.
Additionally, Republican members of the North Carolina congressional delegation, including Sens. Ted Budd and Thom Tillis and Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley, who is from North Carolina, planned to privately urge Trump to pull his endorsement of Robinson, according to a person familiar with the conversations.
The political fallout from Robinson's past comments could be particularly tough for Trump because of the importance of North Carolina as one of seven key swing states on the presidential map. But Trump rarely backtracks on endorsements publicly because he has long believed doing so makes him look weak.
Robinson will not be attending a Trump rally planned for Saturday in Wilmington, North Carolina, according to a person familiar with planning for the event, even though he has been in attendance at past Trump events in the state.
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How Democrats are handling it: Democrats have quickly sought to capitalize on the scandal engulfing Robinson. The DNC launched digital ads and billboards featuring Trump heaping praise on Robinson, while a new Harris campaign ad links Trump to Robinson's past anti-abortion comments. But as Ben Kamisar notes, neither of the campaigns mention the inflammatory comments laid out in the CNN report.
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