Tillis: GOP should "move on" from Robinson by end of week unless he provides evidence refuting CNN report
GOP Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said Republicans should “move on” from embattled gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson if he does not provide credible evidence refuting a recent CNN report that he was behind lewd and offensive comments previously posted on a porn forum.
Tillis, who supported a primary opponent against Robinson, also strongly suggested to CNN that he does not believe Robinson can win the race against Democrat Josh Stein.
“I think the clock is ticking,” Tillis said. “I believe that Mr. Robinson needs to make a call fairly quickly, defend his name or — in the absence of a defense, then we’ve got to move on.”
Tillis added that Republicans should make that decision by the end of this week, saying there are other state-level races as well as the presidential race that need to be considered.
He said, “We’ve got an election that’s 40 days away, and we’ve got to move on, focus on President Trump’s success in North Carolina, legislative races, the Council of State, all the other things that I’m focused on in North Carolina. This is a lot bigger than any one person.”
While it’s beyond the deadline for Robinson to officially drop out from the race, Tillis said that without a credible defense of the allegations it will likely be time for Republicans to abandon the race and rescind their endorsements. Tillis noted that would need to be done in order to protect other candidates who endorsed him before the revelations surfaced.
“They’re trying to use the new information that we know about him over the last two weeks, as if people knew all of that when they endorsed him. What they endorsed, a year ago or six months ago, was somebody where none of this was in evidence. If it is in evidence today, then I think it’s fair for them to say, I did not know. I rescind my endorsement,” Tillis said
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