WASHINGTON North Carolina Republican gubernatorial nominee Mark Robinson lashed out Monday against the false lies about him in a CNN investigative report Thursday that uncovered years of disturbing comments he made in a forum on a porn website.

Except then, in the same breath, he suggested maybe those comments were really by him.

During a campaign event, his first since the CNN report triggered a mass exodus of staff on his campaign, Robinson, the states lieutenant governor, vowed to take legal action against CNN over its story. Among other things, the report said Robinson referred to himself as a black Nazi, described being sexually aroused by secretly watching women in public showers and called himself a perv who likes pornography with transgender people in it a sharp contrast to his present-day transphobic rhetoric.

Youd better understand I am coming after CNN full-throttle, a visibly angry Robinson told reporters about taking legal action against the news network.

Were not here to talk about 15- or 20-year-old salacious, false lies, he continued in a rant .

But then, amid his shouting, he suggested those past comments may be real after all: They want to talk about what possibly happened 15 years ago.

You can watch a video clip of Robinson hedging here .