RALEIGH, NC (AP) — Republican gubernatorial candidate from North Carolina Mark Robinson said on Tuesday that his campaign team had hired a law firm to assist in the investigation of a CNN report He stated that he had written explicitly racist and sexual posts on the message board of a porn website.

The lawyers will investigate how the “false slanders,” as Robinson calls them, came about.

The announcement came as a growing number of North Carolina Republicans, alarmed by last week’s report, said that if Robinson cannot quickly formally refute the allegations, the Republican Party should shift its focus to the contested elections within the state.

Other Republicans have already abandoned Robinson, the incumbent lieutenant governor. The Republican Governors Association said Monday it would no longer support Robinson. His campaign had benefited from the group spending millions of dollars on advertising in his race against Democratic candidate Josh Stein, who polls showed ahead of Robinson. Most of Robinson’s Leading campaign staff also resigned in the consequences of the report.

Republican Party officials fear Robinson’s situation could be detrimental to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and help Democratic candidate Kamala Harris in the swing state, as well as jeopardize the results of other key seats on the ballot.

“He should quickly and conclusively prove the allegations against him to be false,” Hal Weatherman, who is seeking to succeed Robinson as lieutenant governor, said on X. Weatherman is running independently of Robinson but has received his support. “If he can prove that this is not true and was fabricated to harm him, he will win a landslide. But if he cannot do that, he will lose, because the comments attributed to him are extremely disturbing.”

Robinson, a darling of the state’s conservative Republican base, has denied writing the messages more than a decade ago, long before he became politically active. In a press release, Robinson said he was confident that the Northern Virginia-based Binnall Law Group “will leave no stone unturned and allow us to use every legal tool available to hold CNN accountable for their lies.”

CNN’s report uncovered posts Robinson allegedly left on a porn site’s message boards in which he referred to himself as a “black NAZI,” said he enjoyed transgender pornography, said in 2012 that he preferred Hitler to then-President Barack Obama, and called the late Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. “worse than a maggot.” Robinson has a history of making inflammatory comments on abortion, LGBTQ+ issues, and the role of women, which Stein and his allies have been using against him for months.

CNN did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. Last week, CNN said it matched the details of an account on the porn website’s forum with other online accounts owned by Robinson by comparing usernames, a known email address and his full name. CNN reported that the details discussed by the account holder matched Robinson’s age, length of marriage and other biographical information.

At a campaign event on MondayRobinson said he would “take action against CNN with all his might.” He did not provide any evidence to refute the program’s report.

U.S. Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who supported a rival of Robinson’s in the March gubernatorial primary, suggested Tuesday that Robinson should submit evidence by Friday that would form the basis for a lawsuit to “defend his name. Otherwise, if there is no defense, we will have to move on.”

Robinson endorsed Trump before the primaries and has spoken at the former president’s rallies in his state. But he was not present at a Trump rally in Wilmington last weekend and Trump did not mention him. Trump has another event in North Carolina on Wednesday.

In a speech in Charlotte on Monday, Trump’s running mate JD Vance said it was up to North Carolina voters what they thought of Robinson’s messages and whether they believed Robinson’s defense.

A spokesman for the Republican Governors Association said this week that no further ads had been placed in the race after Tuesday.

Data from AdImpact, a system that tracks campaign spending, shows that the RGA and a separate political action committee linked to the group spent at least $15.9 million on television and online advertising during the North Carolina campaign. Stein’s campaign and his allies have spent far more in the general election so far than Robinson and his allies, according to the data.

The deadline for all North Carolina gubernatorial candidates to withdraw from the race was September 19.