RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson quickly named his next state government office chief Thursday, as a dozen workers have quit his office or gubernatorial campaign after last week's CNN report alleging he posted strongly worded racial and sexual comments on an online message board.
Robinson said he had elevated Deputy Chief of Staff Krishana Polite to become the next chief of staff in the Lieutenant Governor’s Office. The announcement came the day after current Chief of Staff and General Counsel Brian LiVecchi disclosed that he was resigning effective next week.
Polite “has been a great major asset to our great state for years,” Robinson wrote on X. “We are blessed to have her leading our administration.”
LiVecchi, who has served in Robinson's office since his term began in early 2021, confirmed Thursday that three other office workers were also resigning as of Oct. 1: communications director John Wesley Waugh, policy director Jonathan Harris and director of government affairs Nathan Lewis. The office, which is allocated $1.3 million in this year’s state budget, lists eight employees on its website. A lieutenant governor holds few inherent duties.
LiVecchi didn't give a reason for the departures, which were revealed a few days after the Robinson campaign's senior adviser said eight of the campaign's top staff members were stepping down, including himself, the campaign manager and finance director. Robinson, who would be the state’s first Black governor if elected, has said he will rebuild his campaign staff. A spokesperson said Thursday that he had no information on campaign staff hirings.
The personnel departures come as Republican officials and GOP groups have distanced themselves from Robinson mere weeks before the Nov. 5 election where he faces Democratic nominee Josh Stein, the sitting attorney general. Absentee voting has started. The Republican Governors Association said it's no longer supporting Robinson. And Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who endorsed Robinson before the March primary, hasn't mentioned Robinson at two North Carolina rallies held since last weekend.
Last week's CNN report said Robinson left statements on a porn site’s message board in which he referred to himself as a “black NAZI,” said he enjoyed transgender pornography, said in 2012 that he preferred Hitler to then-President Barack Obama and slammed the late Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as “worse than a maggot.”
Robinson, who has denied writing the messages, already had a history of inflammatory comments about topics like abortion and LGBTQ+ rights that Stein and his allies have emphasized in opposing him on TV commercials and online. Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris' campaign and her party also are focused on linking Trump with Robinson to win the battleground state.
Robinson's campaign said this week that it had hired a Virginia law firm to investigate how what he calls “false smears” in the report came to be. Jesse Binnall, a partner in the law group, told Fox News that ”the voters need an answer before the election. And so we are going to move very quickly and still give them a very fulsome report.”
“We are going to investigate this strenuously,” said Binnall, whose clients have included Trump and his campaign. “We are going to leave no stone unturned. We’re going to be very, very aggressive.”
CNN hasn't commented on Robinson's accusations. But the network report said it matched details of the account on the message board to other online accounts held by Robinson by comparing usernames, a known email address and his full name. CNN reported details discussed by the account holder matched Robinson’s age, length of marriage and other biographical information.
North Carolina lieutenant governor names new chief aide as staff departures grow
North Carolina lieutenant governor names new chief aide as staff departures grow
FILE - North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson speaks before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Asheville, N.C., Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
BERLIN (AP) — Europeans were reeling Sunday from U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement that eight countries will face 10% tariff for opposing American control of Greenland.
The responses to Trump's decision on Saturday ranged from saying it risked “a dangerous downward spiral” to predicting that “China and Russia must be having a field day.”
Trump's threat sets up a potentially dangerous test of U.S. partnerships in Europe. Several European countries have sent troops to Greenland in recent days, saying they are there for Arctic security training. Trump's announcement came Saturday as thousands of Greenlanders were wrapping up a protest outside the U.S. Consulate in the capital, Nuuk.
The Republican president appeared to indicate that he was using the tariffs as leverage to force talks with Denmark and other European countries over the status of Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of NATO ally Denmark that he regards as critical to U.S. national security. Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland would face the tariff.
There are immediate questions about how the White House could try to implement the tariffs because the EU is a single economic zone in terms of trading, according to a European diplomat who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. It was unclear, too, how Trump could act under U.S. law, though he could cite emergency economic powers that are currently subject to a U.S. Supreme Court challenge.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said China and Russia will benefit from the divisions between the U.S. and the Europe. She added in a post on social media: “If Greenland’s security is at risk, we can address this inside NATO. Tariffs risk making Europe and the United States poorer and undermine our shared prosperity."
Trump's move also was panned domestically.
U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, a former U.S. Navy pilot and Democrat who represents Arizona, posted that Trump’s threatened tariffs on U.S. allies would make Americans “pay more to try to get territory we don’t need.”
“Troops from European countries are arriving in Greenland to defend the territory from us. Let that sink in,” he wrote on social media. “The damage this President is doing to our reputation and our relationships is growing, making us less safe. If something doesn’t change we will be on our own with adversaries and enemies in every direction.”
Norway and the U.K. are not part of the 27-member EU, which operates as a single economic zone in terms of trading. It was not immediately clear if Trump's tariffs would impact the entire bloc. EU envoys scheduled emergency talks for Sunday evening to determine a potential response.
António Costa, president of the European Council, and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, pledged to continue their full solidarity with Denmark and Greenland.
“Tariffs would undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral. Europe will remain united, coordinated, and committed to upholding its sovereignty,” they wrote in a joint statement late Saturday.
Jordan Bardella, president of Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party in France and also a European Parliament lawmaker, posted that the EU should suspend last year's tariff deal with the U.S., describing Trump’s threats as “commercial blackmail.”
The foreign ministers of Denmark and Norway are also expected to address the crisis Sunday in Oslo during a news conference.
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Leicester reported from Paris and Cook from Brussels. Associated Press writer Josh Boak in West Palm Beach, Florida, contributed to this report.
A crowd walks to the US consulate to protest against Trump's policy towards Greenland in Nuuk, Greenland, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
A boy holds a crossed out map of Greenland topped by a hairpiece symbolizing U.S. President Donald Trump, during a protest against Trump's policy towards Greenland in front of the US consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
People protest against Trump's policy towards Greenland in front of the US consulate in Nuuk, Greenland, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)
