Mark Robinson’s top staffer to resign following CNN’s report

<i>CNN via CNN Newsource</i><br/>North Carolina gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson speaks to the media on September 23

By CNN Newsource

Published September 26, 2024 12:37 pm

By Andrew Kaczynski, CNN

(CNN) — The top staffer to Mark Robinson, North Carolina’s embattled lieutenant governor, is set to resign following a CNN KFile report that Robinson made inflammatory and racist remarks on a pornography website’s message board.

Brian LiVecchi, Robinson’s chief of staff and general counsel, will resign in the coming week, according to a source familiar with the matter. His departure is the latest in a series of high-profile resignations of Robinson staffers in the wake of CNN’s report last week.

Robinson, who is the Republican nominee for governor in North Carolina, already lost most of his campaign staff when they resigned on Sunday, including his campaign manager, deputy campaign manager, finance director, and senior advisor and general consultant.

The New York Times and WRAL reported on Wednesday that Robinson’s policy director, communications director, and director of government affairs had also resigned. CNN reached out to those staff members but has not heard back.

Robinson announced a new chief of staff on X on Thursday morning, saying he had elevated Krishana Polite, his deputy chief of staff, to the top position.

Robinson’s lewd comments included describing himself as a “black Nazi,” describing how he used to go “peeping” on women at a public gym when he was 14 years old and expressing support for reinstating slavery on the pornographic website Nude Africa.

Robinson listed his full name on his profile for Nude Africa, as well as an email address he used on numerous websites across the internet for decades.

In an interview with CNN on last week, Robinson repeatedly denied that he made the comments on Nude Africa.

“This is not us. These are not our words. And this is not anything that is characteristic of me,” Robinson said. Presented with the litany of evidence connecting him with the user name on Nude Africa, Robinson said, “I’m not going to get into the minutia of how somebody manufactured this, these salacious tabloid lies.”