WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) — Donald Trump returns to North Carolina on Saturday, stumping in the southern battleground state that both Democrats and Republicans are treating as increasingly critical to victory in November.
But Trump will be campaigning in Wilmington, along the state's southern coast, without Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the GOP gubernatorial nominee and one of the former president's top surrogates in the state, following a CNN report about his alleged posts on a pornography website’s message board. Two people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity said Friday that Robinson was not scheduled to attend the Wilmington event.
Robinson has denied writing the posts, which include lewd and racist comments, saying Thursday that he wouldn’t be forced out of the race by “salacious tabloid lies.” Trump's campaign has appeared to distance itself from Robinson in the wake of the CNN reporting, which the AP has not independently verified, saying in a statement to the AP that Trump “is focused on winning the White House and saving this country" and calling North Carolina “a vital part of that plan," without mentioning Robinson.
While Robinson won his GOP gubernatorial primary in March, he’s been trailing in several recent polls to Democratic nominee Josh Stein, the state’s attorney general. State Republican officials have stood by Robinson, whose decision to keep campaigning could threaten GOP prospects in other key races, including Trump’s efforts in a battleground state he previously won twice.
Democrats have seized on the opportunity to highlight Trump's ties to Robinson, with billboards showing the two together, as well as a new ad from Vice President Kamala Harris ' campaign highlighting the Republican candidates' ties as well as Robinson's support for a statewide abortion ban without exceptions. According to Harris' campaign, it's their first ad effort related to tying Trump to a down-ballot race.
Trump's first outdoor rally since the second apparent attempt to assassinate him is at a Wilmington airport, where a large American flag hung from a crane, with hundreds of chairs and standing room for many more spectators. Bulletproof glass surrounded the area on stage where Trump was slated to speak, a new precaution for outdoor venues the Secret Service implemented after a bullet grazed Trump's ear during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Charlie Kimball, a 46-year-old former construction worker from Burgaw, who said he is currently on disability, dismissed the allegations against Robinson as “fake news."
“That’s his personal life. Who cares?” Kimball said. “It’s all hearsay. … It’s not true. It’s all speculation. Where’s the proof?"
A Republican has carried North Carolina in every general election since 1976 save one, when Barack Obama won the state in 2008. Trump won there in both his previous campaigns but by less than 1.5 percentage points over Democrat Joe Biden in 2020, the closest margin of any state that Trump won. That's part of why Democrats see the state as winnable this fall.
With neither Senate seat up for grabs, the gubernatorial contest has been North Carolina's marquee down-ballot race this year. Robinson has become a natural top surrogate for Trump in the state and a frequent presence at campaign events there, appearing with the nominee as recently as an event last month in Asheboro. Trump has long praised Robinson, who is Black, referring to him as “Martin Luther King on steroids."
Endorsing Robinson ahead of the GOP gubernatorial primary, Trump continued: “I think you’re better than Martin Luther King. I think you are Martin Luther King times two.”
While more visits have been made by presidential contenders to the Rust Belt battlegrounds of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, both Harris and Trump have made multiple trips to North Carolina, highlighting the state’s importance. Following Biden’s departure from the race in July, Trump held his first large-scale rally there, turning his full focus toward Harris.
Wilmington is home to New Hanover County, which Biden won in 2020. But his margin over Trump in the county was among his slimmest in the state.
Julia Novotny, 55, of Wilmington, said she's come around to supporting Trump after initial reservations because of allegations that he's been sexually abusive to women, which he denies.
“He’s classy, he’s a gentleman, he looks good in a suit and he has strong values,” Novotny said. “Everybody makes mistakes, and whether he did or didn’t, I don’t know, but you know what? Leave him alone. He’s a good man. He wants to change this country. Our country is in the dirt, and the only man who pulls us out is Donald Trump.”
Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP. Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price in New York and Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix contributed to this report.
FILE - North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson speaks before Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Asheville, N.C., Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at the Israeli American Council National Summit, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A major Ukrainian drone attack set multiple Russian arms depots ablaze, destroying what Ukraine's General Staff said were thousands of tons of weaponry, including missiles from North Korea.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, meanwhile, appealed for quick action from the United States to send more weapons before his visit to the White House next week with a multi-point “victory plan.”
Ukraine launched more than 100 drones at Russia and the occupied Crimean Peninsula overnight, Russian news reports and the Defense Ministry said Saturday.
The strikes set an arms depot on fire that appeared to be near the same town as one struck by Ukrainian drones earlier this week, in an attack that wounded 13 people and also caused a huge blaze. Arms and ammunition depots were also hit on Saturday in Russia's southern Krasnodar region.
The “victory plan” that Zelenskyy will present to U.S. President Joe Biden will include long-range strike capabilities and other weapons long sought by Kyiv, and will serve as the basis for any future negotiation with Russia, Zelenskyy told reporters.
Zelenskyy has regularly alluded to the plan’s preparation, but hasn't publicly outlined its contents, saying only that it contains terms acceptable for Ukraine to negotiate with Russia.
“This will be the start and foundation for talking in any format with Russia. In any format, with any of its representatives, because there will be a plan and something to show," Zelenskyy said in a briefing Friday.
Zelenskyy said he will present the plan to Biden and Kamala Harris, the U.S. vice president and presidential candidate. Zelenskyy said that he also plans to meet with Harris' opponent in the November election, former President Donald Trump.
He said U.S. reluctance so far to allow Ukraine to use Western weapons to strike deep inside Russia stems from fears of escalation from Moscow, a major global nuclear power. Ukraine has had to use its own capabilities to conduct strikes inside Russian territory.
“I think that Biden is really getting information from his entourage today that there may be an escalation. But, and this is important, not everyone around him thinks so. And this is already an achievement that not all of his entourage thinks so,” Zelenskyy said.
But the longer Western partners wait to allow the use of long-range missiles, the more tactically obsolete their value will become, Zelenskyy said.
Zelenskyy's remarks came shortly before he is set to kick off a busy week in in the United States shoring up support for Ukraine in the war. He is expected to address the U.N. General Assembly annual gathering in New York and travel to Washington for talks on Thursday with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Ukraine’s Western backers have routinely been criticized for only helping the country to survive the invasion, rather than win, out of concern for the chaos that it might cause in Russia should Putin fall. The plan could be an attempt to change that calculus.
Beyond making demands of Biden, Ukraine is likely to seek detailed commitments from European allies as well. Zelenskyy said Thursday without elaborating that its success will rely on quick decisions by “a number of actors” between October and December.
Trump has said he would end the war immediately if he wins, and many in Ukraine and Europe fear that it won't be on favorable terms for Kyiv.
Also on Saturday, Ukraine's General Staff said that “at least 2,000 tons” of weaponry, including missiles supplied by North Korea, were destroyed in a nighttime drone strike that targeted depots in Russia's south and northwest.
Russian authorities on Saturday temporarily closed a 100-kilometer (62-mile) stretch of a highway and evacuated passengers from a rail station after a blaze caused a series of explosions near the town of Toropets, in Russia’s Tver region, about 380 kilometers (240 miles) northwest of Moscow and 500 kilometers (300 miles) from the Ukrainian border.
Posts on local Telegram channels said a missile depot was struck near Toropets. Unverified images circulating on Telegram on Saturday showed a large ball of flame rising into the night sky and dozens of smoke trails from detonations.
Ukrainian drones earlier this week hit a separate military depot near the town, described by the U.K. defense ministry as “one of Russia's largest strategic ammunition depots directly supporting its operation in Ukraine." In its latest intelligence update, the ministry said that strike, reported on Wednesday, likely caused “enormous losses of ordnance.” The update, posted on X, referenced reports of North Korean missiles being stored at Toropets, but didn't independently confirm it.
An ammunition depot and missile arsenal in southwestern Russia also caught fire in a further attack Saturday in the Krasnodar region, triggering evacuations after the blaze caused a series of blasts near the town of Tikhoretsk. Videos on social media showed bright orange clouds rising over the horizon, as dull thuds of detonations sounded almost continuously. Russian state media described clouds of smoke rising from two sites near Tikhoretsk, and authorities later announced a state of emergency around the town.
Regional officials in both provinces attributed the blazes to falling shrapnel from drones downed by Russian air defense. There were no immediate reports of casualties in either region.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said early Saturday that its forces overnight shot down 101 Ukrainian drones over Russian territory and occupied Crimea.
In Ukraine, a 12-year-old boy and two older women were killed as Russian missiles overnight struck Kryvyi Rih, Zelenskyy’s hometown in central Ukraine, local Gov. Serhii Lysak reported Saturday.
Lysak said the missiles hit “in the middle of the night, when the city slept,” wounding three more people, destroying two buildings and damaging another 20.
In Kharkiv, Ukraine's second city, 15 people including young teens were wounded by Russian airstrikes on Friday evening, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said, more than twice as many as initially reported. Shortly after the strike, Terekhov said that seven civilians, including three children, were hurt after Russian Su-34 fighters dropped guided precision bombs on three Kharkiv districts.
Russian drone and artillery strikes Saturday also wounded at least three civilians in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, local officials reported, while a fourth was wounded after an airstrike hit the northern city of Sumy.
Joanna Kozlowska reported from London. Lorne Cook contributed to this report from Brussels.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
This story has been corrected to show that the the U.K. defense ministry update referenced a strike at Toropets that occurred earlier this week, not overnight into Saturday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends a joint press conference with Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (Christoph Soeder, Pool Photo via AP)
Recently built fortifications are seen in Donetsk region, Ukraine, Friday, Sept. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Alex Babenko)
