Trump-backed North Carolina Republican Mark Robinson denies calling himself ‘black nazi’ on pornographic forum
A Republican backed by Donald Trump in his bid to be North Carolina’s governor denied reports he called himself a “black nazi” on an online message board.
CNN reported Thursday that Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson posted racial and sexual comments on a pornography website more than a decade ago.
In a video posted on social media, the Republican nominee said he would not leave the race over “salacious tabloid lies”.
“We are staying in this race. We are in it to win it. And we know that with your help, we will.”
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Mr Robinson also referenced the CNN report and said: “Let me reassure you the things that you will see in that story – those are not the words of Mark Robinson.
“You know my words. You know my character.”
The US outlet reported Mr Robson wrote of being aroused by a memory of “peeping” women in gym showers when he was 14.
He was also said to have used a racial slur when discussing civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr, referred to himself as a “black nazi,” and said: “I’d take Hitler over any of the shit that’s in Washington right now.”
CNN said it matched details of the account on the pornographic website forum to other online accounts held by Robinson by comparing usernames, a known email address and his full name.
Sky News has not verified whether the account is linked to Mr Robinson.
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Eight minutes after the report was published on Thursday, vice president Kamala Harris’ campaign started sharing videos of Donald Trump praising Mr Robinson.
One video from the campaign on X shows the former president at a March rally in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he called the lieutenant governor “Martin Luther King times two”.
“I think you’re better than Martin Luther King. I think you are Martin Luther King times two,” Mr Trump said.
Scott Lassiter, a GOP Senate candidate in a swing district in the state, called on Mr Robinson to “suspend his campaign to allow a quality candidate to finish this race”.
Mr Trump’s campaign also appeared to be distancing itself from Mr Robinson.
The ex-president did not refer to the controversy when he addressed Jewish donors on Thursday night, instead vowing to be ‘the best friend Jewish Americans ever had”.
US
US Election: the big and small deciding factors that could swing the vote for Trump or Harris this November
This election is about the big and the small – as small as anything can be in the USA.
The big number first – our Sky News poll tracker now gives Kamala Harris a three-point lead over Donald Trump nationwide.
That number has been getting bigger – it looks like we can now see a bounce from last week’s debate, one that is being sustained.
And it could get bigger still: bear in mind that our poll tracker includes polls conducted pre-debate.
As they are replaced in our tracker by new polls, her lead may improve.
Three points are substantial: for context, a week after the Biden-Trump debate, widely seen as a disaster for Biden, Trump was polling 3.3 points higher than Biden – a similar gap.
So why aren’t we talking about Trump being in as much trouble?
Some of that has to do with the narrative and momentum around Biden at the time, especially the idea that things would only get worse.
But Trump also has some strengths that Biden did not.
First, as we talked about earlier this week, Harris needs a big nationwide polling lead to ensure she wins a small number of swing states.
Three points are no guarantee of that.
And that’s the other point about the small.
This is about specific voters in specific places, with different demographics and economies.
There are three geographic groupings for the swing states – the southeast (Georgia and North Carolina), the northeast (Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin), and the southwest (Nevada and Arizona).
Ipsos has done polling around the issues that voters in those three regions think are the most important, though.
They’re strikingly similar, enough to aggregate them together.
Democracy means “threats to democracy and the dangers of extreme polarisation” and the economy will mean different things in the rust belt northeast vs the agricultural southeast.
But there are clear priorities.
And those swing state voters have clear ideas about which candidate can best deal with those issues.
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There are some local variations though.
The southwest rates Trump even higher on the economy and immigration, and the southeast thinks he would be better for democracy.
That’s the good news for Donald Trump.
In the smaller places where the votes really matter, he’s seen as the best candidate on the issues that really matter.
But let’s finish with another big-picture finding: Harris’s net favourability continues to be way ahead of Trump’s.
So, big vs small: how they interact will decide the election.
The Data and Forensics team is a multi-skilled unit dedicated to providing transparent journalism from Sky News. We gather, analyse and visualise data to tell data-driven stories. We combine traditional reporting skills with advanced analysis of satellite images, social media and other open source information. Through multimedia storytelling, we aim to better explain the world while also showing how our journalism is done.
New video has been released of the remains of the Titan submersible – more than 3700m down on the seafloor.
The US Coast Guard said it shows “the aft dome, aft ring, remnants of the hull and carbon fiber debris”.
It comes shortly after images of the sub’s tail were released.
A hearing is currently taking place in the US about the Titan’s fatal implosion on a trip to the Titanic in June 2023.
Titan is believed to have suffered a rapid implosion. Pic: PA
OceanGate’s former operations boss told the panel earlier this week the sub was a huge risk and the company was only focused on profit.
David Lochridge also painted an unflattering picture of the firm’s founder, Stockton Rush, saying he would “fly off the handle” and had a “total disregard for safety”.
In one incident, he said Mr Rush crashed the sub into a wreck site and threw the PlayStation controller used to pilot the vehicle at his head.
Three Britons died in the incident – adventurer Hamish Harding and father and son Shahzada and Suleman Dawood
Mr Rush and Frenchman Paul-Henri Nargeolet were also killed instantly when the craft was crushed by the pressure of the ocean.
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Tail cone pictured at bottom of Atlantic
OceanGate’s scientific director Steven Ross is expected to give evidence on Thursday, as is Renata Rojas, a mission specialist for the American company.
The firm suspended operations after the disaster and now has no full-time staff but is being represented by a lawyer during the US Coast Guard hearing.
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Titan lost contact with its support ship on 18 June last year, prompting a search in the Atlantic that made global headlines.
However, the wreck was found four days later 300m from the Titanic’s bow. The sub had been making voyages to the site of the legendary shipwreck since 2021.
Sean “Diddy” Combs has been refused bail a second time as he faces several charges including sex trafficking, drug possession and firearms offences.
US district judge Andrew L Carter said the government had proved “by clear and convincing evidence that there is no condition or set of conditions” that will ensure the safety of the community and that the rapper and music mogul will not tamper with witnesses.
The 54-year-old pleaded not guilty after he was first arrested by officers at the Park Hyatt hotel in Manhattan, New York, on Monday.
Sean Combs (right) and his defence lawyer Marc Agnifilo in a courtroom sketch. Pic: Reuters
He was originally denied bail and told he would be detained after pleading not guilty to three felony counts during an initial court appearance on Tuesday.
Lawyers representing Combs asked a judge on Wednesday to let him await his trial at his luxury home on an island near Miami Beach, as opposed to in jail in Brooklyn.
But prosecutors argued against the proposal, saying there was too great a risk that Combs could threaten or harm witnesses.
Combs’s lawyers offered a $50m (£37.8m) bail package in exchange for his release to home detention with GPS monitoring and strict limitations on who could visit him.
Arguing to keep him behind bars, prosecutor Emily Johnson told the judge that Combs had a long history of intimidating both accusers and witnesses to his alleged abuse.
Ms Johnson cited text messages from women who said Combs forced them into “Freak Offs” and then threatened to leak explicit videos of them engaging in sexual acts.
She also said that Combs’s own defence team was “minimising and horrifically understating” his propensity for violence.
The defence and prosecution were wrangling over the request before the judge passed his ruling.
“I am feeling confident. We’re going to go get Mr Combs out of jail,” Combs’s lawyer Marc Agnifilo said on his way into court on Wednesday, before the judge decided Combs would spend his time before the trial at the Metropolitan Detention Center.
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Sean Combs, centre, sits next to his defence attorneys Marc Agnifilo, left, and Teny Garagos, at Manhattan Federal Court. on Tuesday. Pic: Elizabeth Williams via AP
A legal indictment released after Combs’s arrest detailed allegations dating to 2008, accusing him of abusing, threatening, and coercing women for years “to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct”.
He allegedly induced female victims and male sex workers into drug-fuelled sexual performances, dubbed “Freak Offs”, according to the report.
Combs, formerly known as Puff Daddy and P Diddy, was once one of the most influential figures in hip-hop – famous as a producer and manager of the late Notorious BIG, as well as a rapper in his own right for hits including I’ll Be Missing You, Come With Me, and Bad Boy For Life.
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However, in November, his former girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, filed a lawsuit accusing him of coercing her, and others, into unwanted sex in drug-fuelled settings.
The suit was settled in one day, but months later CNN aired hotel security footage showing Combs punching and kicking Cassie and throwing her to the floor.
He apologised after the video aired, saying: “I was disgusted when I did it.”
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