Roy Cooper Lied About Pat McCrory in Last Night's Debate | Eastern NC Now

Press Release:

    Raleigh, N.C.     Attorney General Roy Cooper, who is the chief law enforcement officer of North Carolina, lied to voters when he falsely claimed Governor McCrory was the subject of a FBI criminal investigation. The U.S. Attorney's office today confirmed to the News & Observer that there is in fact no probe.

    Roy Cooper made the false accusation in last night's live TV debate on WRAL, saying, "Governor, you're the one who now has an FBI criminal investigation as a result..."

    Governor McCrory quickly corrected the record and demanded an apology and the attorney general's resignation for making such misinformed and false statements: "As Attorney General, you should be - resign right now for saying that, that is absolutely not true. There is no FBI investigation. And you should apologize right now."

    Watch the exchange here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXmE0TtYShU

    Ricky Diaz, McCrory Campaign Spokesman: "There is a high likelihood that there will be a bar complaint filed against Cooper for lying during last night's debate. Even though he doesn't do his job, Roy Cooper is still technically the attorney general and it is entering into the realm of professional misconduct for the sitting chief law enforcement officer to falsely accuse his client of being under federal criminal investigation on live TV. It goes to show his complete lack of judgment and further exposes Roy Cooper as a fraud."

    Roy Cooper has a history of lying about his opponents to try and win elections. Cooper was forced to apologize and pay a $75,000 settlement for purposely lying about his opponent in a TV ad during his first race for attorney general in 2000. Cooper, the sitting attorney general, currently faces a Bar complaint for professional misconduct in connection to this case.

    Read more from the Raleigh News & Observer:

    Federal authorities conclude probe of governor in prison contracts case

    By Craig Jarvis, Ames Alexander and Joseph Neff

    Raleigh News & Observer

    RALEIGH - Federal authorities said Wednesday they have closed their probe of Gov. Pat McCrory's role in state prison contracts awarded to a political contributor without bringing charges against the governor.

    A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Charlotte said in an email that McCrory's general counsel had been informed of the decision, but did not say when that happened.

    The decision first became public during Tuesday night's debate between McCrory and Attorney General Roy Cooper in Raleigh after Cooper said the FBI was investigating the matter. McCrory denied it, and in a post-debate news conference said the FBI told him it was no longer investigating.

    Asked to confirm on Wednesday, the chief federal prosecutor in the Charlotte region issued a statement through her spokeswoman:

    "Western District of North Carolina U.S. Attorney Jill Westmoreland Rose previously advised Gov. Pat McCrory's attorney that all matters related to the Governor's alleged involvement with state prison contracts have been closed by this Office with no action against the Governor."

    At the debate, Cooper said, "If he wants to talk about political contributions, he had a contributor who said he wanted something for his contribution. In return, Gov. McCrory gave him a private prison contract over the objections of his staff."

    McCrory responded, "As attorney general you should resign right now for saying that. That is absolutely not true."

• Contact: The Pat McCrory Committee
•     media@patmccrory.com