After putting up a front against allegations made by CNN and a former porn store clerk, Louis Money; and going so far as to sue each for libel, former Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson has officially dropped all lawsuits against the parties.

A one-sentence notice of dismissal was filed by his lawyers in federal court Friday, January 31. Adding to the dismissal of the suits, Robinson, in a prepared statement, also said he would not run for office next year, “nor do I have plans to seek elected office in the future.”

“Today, my family and I are turning the page,” Robinson said. “The words of our Savior, along with the earthly reality that costly litigation and political gamesmanship by my detractors makes clear that continuing to pursue retribution from CNN is a futile effort.”

The claims against CNN hail back to a story reported by the 24-hour cable news network in 2024. In it, CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck detail a series of controversial and inflammatory comments allegedly made by the former politician on the Nude Africa porn site. Operating under the username “minisoldr,” Robinson reportedly referred to himself as a “Black Nazi,” as well as made claims to have spied on women showering while watching from a vent as a teen and admitted his love for “tranny porn” while defaming the marginalized group in the same breath.

Robinson previously had accused CNN of attributing “vile and bizarre comments” to him “for sensationalist and spiteful purposes” in a court filing in December. The former lieutenant governor argued that the news network wanted to ruin his reputation with its reports about the polarizing figure during his campaign for the North Carolina Governor seat.

In a brief filed three weeks prior to the dismissal notice, CNN’s lawyers challenged Robinson’s legal arguments in a set of statements and asking  the federal judge handling the case to have it dropped.

“This Court must continue to protect the ability of news organizations to report on issues of public import without the threat of litigation or censorship,” CNN’s lawyers wrote. “As the Fourth Circuit has explained, the actual malice standard is ‘rooted in the First Amendment’s vital guarantee of free and uninhibited discussion of public issues’ and ensures ‘defamation cases involving issues of public concern are considered against the background of a profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open.’”

As to Robinson’s dismissal, CNN has not made a statement as of this writing.

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