Maggie Haberman Says Trump Confidantes Expect Him to Say ‘I Hardly Know’ Mark Robinson Amid ‘Black Nazi’ Scandal

Maggie Haberman of CNN and The New York Times reported Friday night that former President Donald Trump is expected to publicly distance himself from embattled Republican North Carolina North Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson by late Saturday.

Robinson has denied reporting from CNN that linked an email account he was revealed to use to comment on an online pornography forum a decade ago. In one comment, the gubernatorial candidate declared himself a “Black Nazi” and praised adult videos featuring transgender women.

The candidate, who had received Trump’s enthusiastic endorsement, has denied he left the comments. Trump had previously compared Robinson to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Haberman joined CNN’s The Source Friday night where she told guest host Boris Sanchez she had been told Robinson would not be attending a campaign event in North Carolina Saturday.

Per Haberman, Trump might also declare he barely knows the embattled GOP candidate. She told Sanchez:

I think it’s going to look like saying the minimum. What most people who have talked to him said they expect him to say is some version of “I hardly know the guy.” As we know right now, Democrats are airing an ad tying Trump to Mark Robinson. And I don’t know if that might make him say something different if he would want to condemn it or try to distance himself further and be more forceful about it. But his team is certainly looking to put a lot of miles between Donald Trump and Mark Robinson, and had been I should note, leading up to this because there has been as discussed before, this swirl of rumors around him for some time, a lot of concerns around him for some time, Trump got behind him anyway.

Sanchez played clips of Trump praising Robinson and asked Haberman what “calculus” would go into how Trump might or might not walk away from Robinson. She replied:

The problem with trying to come up with a calculus for what Trump is going to say is that Trump often does, then goes out and says whatever he wants, or says something different, or posts at 1:00 a.m. On Truth Social, So the plans can get upended by the candidate. What his advisers would like him to do is to put, again, put more distance between himself and Robinson.

There are some people who thought that Trump needs to publicly disavow Robinson. And I think that’s what we are watching for to see if he does anything like that tomorrow, saying something like, “I hardly know the guy.” We have heard him say that about dozens and dozens of people – controversial endorsees, controversial supporters, controversial former advisers. And so the list goes on and on. The weight of what is swirling around Mark Robinson is so much that I think it’s going to be hard for Trump to just say that, but we’ll see.

Watch above via CNN.