Security to 2024 candidates to president ial levels. And israel unleashing new strikes on hezbollah targets overnight, in the region amid ratcheting fears of a wider conflict. Good morning, thanks for joining us. Its 10 00 a. M. Eastern, 7 00 a. M. Pacific. Im Ana Cabrera reporting from New York. North carolinas republican candidate for governor is refusing to step aside after a Bomb Shell Report reverberating from that Battle Ground to the president ial race, that Mark Robinson reportedly made disturbing posts more than ten years ago on a pornography site. A Cnn Investigation reveals that robinson called Himself A Black Nazi, expressed support for bringing Back Slavery and recounted sexually graphic stories including a memory of peeping on women in Gym Showers when he was 14. Robinson took to Social Media to issue a flat denial and insists he is staying in the race. Let me reassure you the things that you will see in that story, those are not the words of Mark Robinson. You know my words. You know my character, and you know that i have been completely transparent. We are staying in this race. We are in it to win it, and we know with your help, we will. Nbcs Antonia Hylton joins us from raleigh, North Carolina, this morning. Also with us, senior political editor, mark murray, eugene daniels, political white House Correspondent and Ashley Parker Washington senior national political correspondent. Robinson he isnt going anywhere. What more do we know and how are people in North Carolina reacting to this . Good morning. Robinson isnt going anywhere, the deadline to have dropped out was 11 59 Last Night, and that of course came and went, and he has doubled down, denying these accusations, and saying that he plans to stay in the race, and voters, politicians, staffers in North Carolina are just reeling with the news. Democrats have been gleeful. I have been on the phone with them. They think this is going to drag down the entire republican ticket and help them as they forge a path for harris to take this state, and to pull off a win here in North Carolina. The reaction from republicans has been all over the place, so some State Level Republican officials have been deleting photos of them hanging out with robinson at events, appearing with him in certain places, and then the Trump Campaign released a Statement Saying that they are focused on winning, but interestingly, that statement, ana, didnt actually mention robinson. That may be the most telling thing of all here. We might see republicans start to distance themselves from him. He is, as of now, we dont know about any appearances hes planning to make today. It will be interesting to see, does he get invited to the next Trump Rally here, i think, coming up pretty soon in wilmington in North Carolina, and do other State Level Republicans continue to appear alongside him. Thats very much an open question. But certainly the feeling here on the ground is that people are going to try to move forward without robinson at their side, ana. Antonia hylton, thank you, keep us posted as things develop on the ground in North Carolina. Interesting to see the Trump Campaign distancing themselves from robinson. It was the backing that helped Robinson Win the primary there. North carolina, of course a key battleground. What are the political implications of all of this . I think in the president ial race, North Carolina is definitely in play for the Harris Campaign. Its worth remembering that Joe Biden only ended up losing North Carolina by 1 Percentage Point in 2020. Since Bidens Exit from the 2024 race, we have actually seen harris doing very well in those Sun Belt states, including North Carolina. There was a Quinnipiac Poll that showed her ahead by three points, within the margin of error. That is kind of replicated by other polling that we have seen. Then when it comes to the North Carolina gubernatorial contest. Democrat Josh Stein has been healed by double digits over Mark Robinson, and thats also been consistent with other polling, so the democrats and even before what ended up happening yesterday had been in pretty good shape in North Carolina. Of course, it is worth noting we have seen many polls in North Carolina in the 2020 cycle, as well as even in 2016 with democrats doing well, and republicans gaining ground and winning at The End. And eugene, trump not only backed robinson but compared him to Martin Luther King. Take a listen. This is Martin Luther King on steroids. Now, i told that to mark. I said, i think youre better than Martin Luther King. I think you are Martin Luther King times two. So talk to us about the impact for trump, and i understand, eugene, you have new reporting on how the Harris Campaign views this . Yeah, i mean, this is the issue that a lot of republicans have had with trump for a while is that he picks these candidates who say these wild things, even, you know, this is the first time that Mark Robinson has said something similar to this in the same ilk of wild. I think the idea that this is going to change a lot of it is probably true, right, for Donald Trump choosing candidates that are in his Ilk But Cant sell it in the same way he does and that will double and triple down. Mark robinson says you know my words and the words have not been great for a long time. A senior Communications Adviser for Vice President harris for a podcast that came up this morning. I asked him straight up about Mark Robinson and how they feel like it impacts their ability to win. Mark is right. They did seem to feel like they were in a good place. What was interesting is they tied him directly to trump. This is a trump candidate, someone who at The End of the day believes a lot of the things that trump believes. As you can imagine, the Martin Luther KingTrump Thing is going to be cut into ads over and over and run into North Carolina. And interesting enough, according to this cnn reporting, Mark Robinson said terrible things about Martin Luther King in the past. Anyway, the North CarolinaRepublican Party is standing by their guy, putting out a statement Last Night supporting robinson saying in part, quote, Mark Robinson has categorically denied the allegations made by cnn, but that wont stop The Left trying to demonize him via personal attacks. We know robinson is no stranger to controversial comments or Bad News cycles. He has said so many things that have left him in a bad spotlight in the past, including these kinds of comments. Take a look at the socalled civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. How the socialists, how the communists used that to manipulate people in this country. Some liberal somewhere is going to say that sounds awful. Too bad. Get mad at me if you want to. Some folks need telling. Its time for somebody to say it. You feel like a woman, youre going in a womens bathroom, you will be arrested. Protect our women. Ashley, if you have a candidate that is this divisive, i mean, how did he end up being the republican nominee . Well, thats one of the things when were calling around yesterday, we heard theres going to be a shoe to drop, there were rumors he was going to drop out. And one thing i heard from a number of even republicans in North Carolina was this private frustration that it should have never gotten to this point, that there was a sense that it was very easy to dig up Opposition Research on him and controversial comments with very little effort, but its worth noting that michael whatley, who was running the Republican Party in North Carolina, while this was going on, hes now trumps rnc chairman, his Chosen Rnc chairman. A lot of people are now also worried about that and questioning his Judgment And Sort of frustrated that the Party Kind of rolled over on a candidate who even before this happened, and again, this was not the Research Anyone was aware of. They already felt was a Core Candidate who would be very easily tied to trump and controversial comments and statements, and offending various groups you need to win in a way that would not be helpful electorally. Is this the best the republicans think theyve got in North Carolina, the fact that they coalesce behind this man . One of the reasons he was able to succeed he had trumps endorsement. One of the frustrations has been in the primaries and in a lot of the districts, not here obviously but the primary is the fight for the republicans. If you win the primary, you can beat your General Election opponent, depending on if the district is gerrymandered or not. He likes a Fighter Mentality or controvert, and he backs them, and then the party is too afraid to cross him, and you are left with a bunch of candidates who dont fare particularly well in a General Election contest. Mark, we have been down the road before, there were republican candidates, doug mastriano, herschel walker, none of them called themselves a nazi, but they had controversy that followed themselves on the campaign trail. This keeps happening in the Republican Party. As ashley was mentioning, this vying for Donald Trumps endorsement sometimes hasnt worked very well for republicans. We saw that play out in the 2022 midterms, ana, as you were just mentioning there. It is worth noting the scandals and controversies right before Election Day can be a bipartisan affair. It was four years ago, where cal cunningham, the democratic candidate for senate got caught up in a scandal. When it comes to the doug mastrianos, herschel walker, mehmet oz, Kari Lake is running this 2024 cycle. Republicans say hey, Donald Trump is bullet proof, and i think Theres Debate about that, but controversies and scandals certainly have helped take down other republicans in the Donald Trump era. Eugene, the Trump Campaign has talked about Making End roads in the black community, particularly with black men. This doesnt seem like it would help. I dont think calling Himself A Black Nazi is going to help with black voters. At The End of the day, the way republicans in the Trump Campaign have worked on black Voter Outreach has been clumsy. Republicans are new at it, right . Trying to figure out what black voters want. Talking and thinking about rappers as wait to get in, the golden shoes as the way to get into black voters, voting booth mentality, and so instead of understanding that black voters care about the same thing every voter cares about. They care about the economy. They care about Health Care. All of the things that white voters care about, feel like impacts their lives, impacts black people even more, right . One of the sayings in the black community is if america gets a cold, black people get the flu. Understanding that aspect is more important than trying to figure out the other ways. Someone like Mark Robinson, he didnt seem like he was trying to make end roads with black voters in any way, shape or form, his comments about the civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King, and this, its over and over and over again voters in North Carolina are seeing something that theyre probably not interested in, especially in the black community. However, and marks right, North Carolina has continued to feel loose with the football for democrats over the years, but theyre feeling much better than they have before, and now they have help with the gubernatorial candidate on the republican side, frankly. We got new reporting that robinson will not be attending Donald Trumps event in North Carolina over the weekend. I want to pivot and talk about another Trump Rally that happened, something he said Last Night, and this was at an event that was supposed to be focused on combatting antisemitism. Take a listen. I did all of these things and i got 29 . Think of it. I wasnt treated rightment its right. Its only because of the democratic Hold Or Curse on you. You cant let this happen. 40 is not acceptable. In my opinion, the jewish people, a lot to do with the loss if im at 40 . A trump event, he spoke there. What does that tell you about trumps mindset right now, ashley, and his strategy down the Home Stretch . Well, his mindset is its dark, its dystopian, angry, frustrated. Whats interesting about those comments, and every controversial he has made since he came on the scene in 2015 is you think thats going to be it, right . That will hurt him with jewish voters, that will hurt him with black voters. That will hurt him with hispanic voters. It seems like those would for almost any other candidate in a more traditional political environment. It doesnt really. Whats fascinating about that, and this is something the Trump Campaign is acutely aware of. He has a high floor that hes not going to go below. He has a hard Core Base that wont abandon him. Because of comments like that, he has a low ceiling hes not going to go above. Theres not much he can do to bring himself up high. A lot of the challenge is to bring Vice President harris down enough, tear her down enough to get her lower than him. The idea that he is somehow going to rise is just not going to happen at this point. Thank you, ashley parker, mark murray, eugene daniels, great to have you with us as well. Ahead we have more on the Bomb Shell Reporting involving the gop candidate. How it could impact every race. Plus, overnight in Southern Lebanon, the most intense israeli bombardment since october 7th. The mounting concerns of more conflict in the region. Also, a Kentucky Judge fatally shot in his chambers, the stunning details about the suspect. But first, Kamala Harris