Hearing in Robinson defamation suit set two weeks after election

Lt. Governor Mark Robinson Source: Jacob Emmons, Carolina Journal

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  • A hearing is scheduled for Nov. 18 in Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson's defamation lawsuit. The hearing will address defendant Louis Love Money's motion to dismiss the complaint against him.
  • There is no indication that the hearing will address the portion of the lawsuit focusing on Robinson's allegations against CNN.
  • Robinson is seeking $50 million in damages against CNN and money. The cable television network published a report accusing Robinson of making racial and sexual comments on adult websites in the 2000s. Money released a music video accusing Robinson of visiting a pornography store.

A hearing has been scheduled for Nov. 18 in North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson’s defamation lawsuit. The hearing will address defendant Louis Love Money’s motion to dismiss Robinson’s complaint.

There is no indication that the hearing listed on North Carolina’s eCourts system will address the lawsuit’s complaints against CNN.

Robinson is the Republican nominee for governor. Voters will choose a new governor to succeed Democrat Roy Cooper on Nov. 5.

Money filed a motion on Oct. 16 to dismiss Robinson’s complaints against him. “The Complaint contains many impertinent and bizarre allegations, meandering into two discussions of George Soros, conspiracies about media bias, and applauding Mark Robinson for lifting himself out of bankruptcy,” Money’s lawyers wrote. “The Complaint also sues CNN, and of course the lawsuit has been highlighted by nearly every if not every local news network in North Carolina and has been discussed in the national media.”

The filing accused Robinson’s lawyers of violating court rules by announcing that the lieutenant governor is seeking $50 million in damages.

“[I]t has to be considered that the violation of Rule 8(a)(2) may have been for the very purpose of creating media attention for Mr. Robinson’s campaign by creating a rambling narrative regarding CNN, Mr. Robinson, and a man who did an obscure video poking fun of Mr. Robinson for frequenting a pornography store (which the Complaint seems to at least partially agree with) … and for owing him $25. Somehow, according to Mr. Robinson, that caused him $50,000,000 of damages.”

Robison and attorney Jesse Binnall announced the lawsuit against CNN and Money during an Oct. 15 news conference in Raleigh. 

CNN published a story last month that accused Robinson of making racial and sexual comments on adult websites in the early 2000s. These allegations caused a major shake-up in his campaign with key senior staff members resigning days after publication of the story, which Robinson continues to deny. 

“Today, we are taking the first step to do exactly what I said I was going to do after these scurrilous attacks were launched against myself and my family. We are holding CNN accountable,” said Robinson. “What this amounts to is, to quote Clarence Thomas ‘This is a high-tech lynching’ on a candidate who has been targeted from day one by folks who disagree with me politically and want to see me destroyed.”

The lawsuit, filed in Wake County Superior Court, is seeking $50 million in damages, citing the harm done to Robinson’s reputation. It also alleges several inconsistencies in CNN’s reporting. 

“It 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,” the legal filing states. “Any person could have purchased and/or used Lt. Gov. Robinson’s data to create accounts all over the internet.”

“What our investigation has shown so far is that there were a number of inconsistencies that were used that went beyond journalistic standards in the way that CNN performed their reporting,” said Binnall. “When you use information that is taken from data breaches, and you don’t properly verify that information — information, that was available to anyone on the dark web for instance — if you take that and then put it as the truth on your website, that can be one thing that is a reckless disregard for the truth.” 

Robinson’s attorney also raised concerns about whether this constituted some form of election interference. 

“This lawsuit lays out the effort to as the lieutenant governor said use a high-tech lynching in order to interfere with North Carolina’s 2024 gubernatorial election,” said Binnall.” We expect to find that there are more bad actors that have been involved in this process to interfere with the election and there is more to come. There have been those that have tried to interfere with our investigation by stonewalling and to them I will say that we will use every tool at our disposal now that a lawsuit has been filed including subpoena power in order to continue pursuing the facts.” 

Robinson stated that he will continue his campaign and expects to “win this election despite the attack.” 

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