Exclusive: Harris campaign launching new ad seeking to tie Trump to Mark Robinson

By Alayna Treene, CNN

(CNN) — Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign on Friday launched a new television ad seeking to tie former President Donald Trump to North Carolina’s Republican gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson, a day after a bombshell KFile report detailed a series of inflammatory comments Robinson made more than a decade ago.

This is the first Harris campaign ad tying Trump to a down-ballot campaign, the Harris campaign told CNN.

The spot, titled “Both Wrong” and obtained exclusively by CNN, intersperses Trump’s past praise for Robinson with the gubernatorial candidate’s anti-abortion comments, including him voicing support for a statewide abortion ban that would not include exceptions.

It opens with Trump’s comments calling Robinson “an unbelievable lieutenant governor” and referring to him as “better than Martin Luther King” while interspersing with Robinson saying, “For me, there is no compromise on abortion” and “we could pass a bill and say, ‘You can’t have an abortion in North Carolina for any reason.’”

The new ad is part of the Harris-Walz campaign’s $370 million in digital and television advertising reservations between Labor Day and Election Day, the Harris campaign told CNN. The spot will begin airing Friday on television across North Carolina markets on a variety of programs including local news, “Jeopardy” and “Wheel of Fortune.”

It comes as Harris is traveling to Georgia on Friday for a speech focused on Trump’s role in the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Harris’ remarks are expected to include the recent deaths of Georgia mothers Amber Thurman and Candi Miller, who reportedly died in 2022 because of a lack of care linked to the state’s abortion restrictions.

“The split screen today for voters in this election could not be more stark: In Georgia, Vice President Harris will make a forceful and powerful case for reproductive freedom in the light of two women’s preventable deaths under the state’s Trump abortion ban. In North Carolina, Donald Trump proudly embraces Mark Robinson and his extremist views on what women can and cannot do with our bodies,” Harris-Walz campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon told CNN in a statement.

“Trump can’t run away from the truth: He stands shoulder to shoulder with Robinson and for the extreme abortion bans that are putting women’s lives at risk across the country — and if they have the chance, they will go further and ban abortion across the country. From now until Election Day, we will make sure voters don’t forget that,” O’Malley Dillon said.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the new ad. In a statement to CNN following Thursday’s KFile reporting, Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said, “President Trump’s campaign is focused on winning the White House and saving this country. North Carolina is an vital part of that plan. We are confident that as voters compare the Trump record of a strong economy, low inflation, a secure border, and safe streets, with the failures of Biden-Harris, then President Trump will win the Tar Heel State once again. We will not take our eye off the ball.”

The Trump campaign has so far declined to weigh in specifically on CNN’s reporting about Robinson’s controversial comments. However, some people in Trump’s orbit had heard rumblings this week that a potentially damaging story on Robinson was in the works, according to two sources familiar with the situation.

Trump is slated to hold a rally in Wilmington, North Carolina, on Saturday. Before the CNN story was published, Trump’s campaign had not invited Robinson to Trump’s Saturday event, and sources noted that decision was likely to hold. Robinson has been at most, if not all, of Trump’s recent North Carolina events. Robinson spoke at Trump’s economic speech in Asheville and Trump brought him on stage last month in Asheboro.

Many people close to Trump have long held concerns about Robinson and his gubernatorial candidacy, given his previous inflammatory comments, including disparaging the civil rights movement and mocking the victims of a school shooting. Even privately, some on Trump’s team had hoped he would drop out as controversial comments were revealed. However, that didn’t stop Trump from giving Robinson his endorsement at a North Carolina event earlier this year, during which he referred to Robinson as “Martin Luther King on steroids.”

Despite efforts to distance the former president from Robinson, three senior Trump campaign advisers told CNN that there have been no efforts to pressure Robinson to withdraw from the governor’s race.

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