Lindsey Graham calls reports of Mark Robinson’s ‘black Nazi’ posts ‘beyond unnerving’

The senior Senate Republican Lindsey Graham has said reports that the North Carolina Republican candidate for governor, Mark Robinson, calling himself a "black NAZI!" in posts on the porn forum Nude Africa a decade ago are "beyond unnerving" and should see him end his political career if proven true.

"If they're true, he's unfit to serve for office," the long-serving South Carolina senator said Sunday. "If they're not true, he has the best lawsuit in the history of the country for libel."

But Graham stopped short of calling for Robinson, who has denied claims made by CNN that the incendiary entries on the forum are his own, to step down from his bid for the state governorship or that Donald Trump, who has called Robinson "Martin Luther King on steroids", should drop his endorsement of the candidate.

"I think what's going to happen here is that he deserves a chance to defend himself," Graham said. "He's claiming they were artificially created."

Graham advised Robinson, who has a history of controversial and racist statements, to "hire me the best lawyer I could find. I'd sue the hell out of CNN, because what they're saying about him is just unbelievable."

"But as to Robinson, he's a political zombie if he does not offer a defense to this that's credible," Graham added.

Robinson's alleged porn site comments dominated the US Sunday talk shows, a day after Trump held a rally for 10,000 supporters in North Carolina without mentioning Robinson or the candidate appearing on stage.