Washington Examiner: “The Whatley Files highlight his ties to disgraced figures […] And they say it means he can never be trusted to protect the people of North Carolina from powerful predators.”

In case you missed it, the North Carolina Democratic Party launched a new website, The Whatley Files, highlighting DC insider and Big Oil Lobbyist Michael Whatley’s record of elevating people who engaged in predatory behavior – from convicted child sex predator Harvey West to Mark Robinson to Jeffrey Epstein.

The Whatley Files includes new footage of Whatley responding for the first time to questions about his relationship with Harvey West, then lying that West was “elected on his own.” West has admitted that Whatley appointed him to NCGOP leadership roles twice.

[Washington Examiner, Rob Crilly, X]

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Washington Examiner: The Whatley files: North Carolina Democrats highlight Republican’s silence on sex offender

Rob Crilly | April 23, 2026

• Michael Whatley, the North Carolina Republican candidate for Senate, has finally broken his silence on ties to convicted child sex offender Harvey Lee West.
• But it hasn’t placated the critics in his own party who have demanded he denounce a man who served six years in prison and was placed on the sex offender registry.
• The video is being published Thursday by Democratic campaigners as they launch a new website. The Whatley Files highlight his ties to disgraced figures, including Mark Robinson, the state’s former lieutenant governor, whose run for governor imploded in scandal.
• And they say it means he can never be trusted to protect the people of North Carolina from powerful predators.
• Whatley has repeatedly sidestepped questions about how much he knew of West’s dark past when he reupped him to the Plan of Organization Committee, which controls party rulemaking.
• But the video shared with Secrets shows Whatley being confronted by an activist outside a recent fundraiser. He was asked why he had promoted West into a position of authority.
• “He was elected on his own,” Whatley answered.
• Michele Woodhouse, a Republican who ran for House in the state’s 11th Congressional District in 2021, said Whatley was being less than honest, deflecting the question to talk about West’s role as chairman of the 1st Congressional District Committee.
• “He appointed him to the Plan of Organization Committee on multiple occasions, and Harvey has confirmed that,” she said. “Plus, Michael promoted the picnic.”
• On Thursday, they are launching The Whatley Files. The website details his ties to West, his close relationship to Robinson, whom he called the “greatest lieutenant governor in the United States,” and what they say was his role in playing down the importance of the Epstein files, calling it an attempt to change the narrative.
• At the time, Pat McCrory, the former Republican governor of North Carolina, said Whatley had enabled Robinson’s rise and “ignored many known flaws” that made him a “ticking time bomb.”

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