Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson Announces Lawsuit Against CNN
RALEIGH, NC – Today, North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark K. Robinson and the Binnall Law Group announced the filing of a lawsuit in Wake County Superior Court against CNN and Louis Love Money for defamation in response to last month's reports designed to attack North Carolina's Republican nominee for governor and interfere with the November 5 election.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct. 15, 2024
Contact: Mike Lonergan
[email protected]
LT. GOV. MARK ROBINSON & BINNALL LAW GROUP ANNOUNCE LAWSUIT AGAINST CNN
RALEIGH, NC – Today, North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark K. Robinson and the Binnall Law Group announced the filing of a lawsuit in Wake County Superior Court against CNN and Louis Love Money for defamation in response to last month's reports designed to attack North Carolina's Republican nominee for governor and interfere with the November 5 election.
As I've said from the beginning, the claims from leftist media like CNN and grifters like Louis Love Money are salacious tabloid trash. CNN’s disgraceful and dishonest smears against me and my family amount to a 21st Century, high-tech lynching.
I'm grateful for all of the ongoing hard work of Jesse Binnall and his team to investigate this blatant smear campaign and election interference from CNN as to where and how these claims originated. This lawsuit is just the beginning of these efforts, and I look forward to making our case in court, and holding CNN and all of those involved in these outrageous lies accountable through every legal means at our disposal.
— Lieutenant Governor and Republican nominee for Governor, Mark Robinson
Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson categorically denies CNN’s so-called reporting. The Binnall Law Group’s investigation remains ongoing.
CNN’s reporting is disgraceful, and nothing less than a salacious attempt to misguide the voters and interfere with this November’s election. While our investigation into CNN’s reporting remains ongoing, what we have found so far shows that they either knowingly, or with reckless disregard, chose to publish unsubstantiated, unverified and dubious source material with little or no transparency in a clearly coordinated attempt to attack a political figure a few short weeks away from a critical election. This is disgraceful, and our team will tirelessly pursue every lead and every witness to hold them accountable.
— Jesse R. Binnall, Partner, Binnall Law Group
Today’s lawsuit was filed in Wake County Superior Court. A copy of the complaint is available online here.
Key excerpts of the investigation outlined in the complaint include:
- “[CNN] chose to publish despite knowing or recklessly disregarding that Lt. Gov. Robinson’s data—including his name, date of birth, passwords, and the email address supposedly associated with the NudeAfrica account—were previously compromised by multiple data breaches. Any person could have purchased and/or used Lt. Gov. Robinson’s data to create accounts all over the internet. As CNN is aware, people who create accounts on websites like NudeAfrica, AdultFriendFinder, and Ashley Madison, prefer not to use their own names and identities for obvious reasons.”
- “Almost immediately after the CNN Article broke, the management of NudeAfrica shut down the forum section of its website, where these alleged posts were supposedly archived. It then apparently deleted all messages from the user named minisoldr, thereby removing any evidence that could be investigated. As of this filing, the entire website has now been taken down, and the owner of NudeAfrica refuses to answer phone calls, knocks at his door, or letters sent to him or his company.”
National media organizations like the Associated Press have also been unable to independently confirm the details of the CNN story:
- “The Associated Press has not independently confirmed that Robinson wrote and posted the messages.” (Associated Press here, Gary Robertson & Michelle Price, 9/20/24)
- “The Associated Press has not confirmed the contents of the report and Robinson denied it.” (Associated Press here, Nicholas Riccardi, 9/21/24)
The lawsuit also includes Louis Love Money’s completely unsubstantiated and defamatory claims as reported by The Assembly last month.
CNN and other news organizations have gotten into legal hot water for false political smears before. For example, in 2020, CNN and The Washington Post both settled lawsuits for hundreds of millions of dollars following their false attacks against a Kentucky high school student, Nicholas Sandman.
CNN and Love Money’s disgraceful, coordinated smear campaign and election interference are the latest in a series of attacks from political opponents designed to misguide North Carolinians about Mark Robinson and his record.
A deep-pocketed long-time Josh Stein donor has committed to spend $1 million against Mark Robinson by using artificial intelligence to fabricate audio clips of things the lieutenant governor didn't say. Stein’s donor behind these false attacks has been sued by the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) and factory workers' families for fraud. While Stein’s team claimed to disavow Stiefel, they have yet to disavow his campaign contributions.
Friends of Mark Robinson | PO Box 470312 | Charlotte, NC 28247 US