President Donald Trump and Republican US Senate candidate Michael Whatley delivered a barrage of accusations against former North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper on Tuesday night, Oct. 20, at a rally in Greenville – with both men portraying the Democratic Senate nominee as responsible for violent crime, rising living costs and failures in the state’s response to Hurricane Helene.
While some of their criticisms were based on actual actions taken by Cooper during his eight years as governor, other accusations left out important context or conflicted with documented facts.
Trump also used the rally to promise Americans $5,000 each if Republicans retain control of Congress in November and announced new semiconductor-related investments in North Carolina.
Unlike some Republican candidates who are distancing themselves from Trump, Whatley is all in and his key campaign pledge is that, if you like what Trump is doing, you should vote for Whatley so that the president will have the support to continue.
In other parts of the country some. Republicans are creating space between themselves and Trump. For instance, Former Republican US Sen. John E. Sununu, who’s trying to reclaim his old New Hampshire Senate seat in a race against Democratic Congressman Chris Pappas, is going to unusual lengths to distance himself from the president – even though Trump has endorsed him.
In a campaign ad released this week, Sununu declares, “The way Chris Pappas tells it, I’m President Trump’s long-lost son. I’ve never even met the man.”
Sununu has also publicly criticized Trump’s tariffs on Canada and his war with Iran, calling the latter a mistake, and has said he doesn’t need Trump campaigning for him in New Hampshire.
On Tuesday night at the rally, the president made clear that his central purpose in Greenville was to promote Whatley’s candidacy and defeat Cooper in a race that could help determine which party controls the US Senate.
“I’m here for two things,” Trump said. “I want to tell you how bad Cooper is and I want to tell you how great Michael Whatley is.”
Whatley, who spoke before Trump arrived and returned to the stage during the president’s remarks, was equally critical of Cooper – whom he called the worst governor in North Carolina history.
Among the most serious accusations were claims that Cooper released thousands of dangerous criminals during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in murders, rapes and other violent crimes.
Trump told the crowd Cooper released more than 3,500 inmates, including 86 convicted murderers, and that the released prisoners subsequently committed at least 25 murders.
Whatley used a different figure, asserting that Cooper released 4,200 prisoners and that 25 of them went on to commit murder.
There’s a factual basis for the controversy: In February 2021, Cooper’s administration agreed to a settlement in a lawsuit brought by civil rights organizations concerned about the spread of COVID-19 in state prisons.
The settlement provided for the early release of 3,500 inmates.
However, the settlement followed court proceedings in which a judge had already ordered action to address prison conditions. Cooper’s administration had initially resisted demands for broader releases.
A PolitiFact investigation published in September examined claims by Trump and Whatley about the consequences of those releases.
It cited an earlier New York Post report identifying at least 18 released inmates subsequently charged with homicide. However, a WRAL investigation of those cases found that most of the accused either had already been released before the agreement or would have been out of prison by the time the alleged killings occurred even without the settlement.
That distinction doesn’t eliminate questions about the wisdom of releasing prisoners early – but it complicates the claim that Cooper’s decision directly caused the murders.
Both Trump and Whatley also blamed Cooper for the murder of Iryna Zarutska, the 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee fatally stabbed aboard a Charlotte light-rail train in August 2025.
Whatley told the Greenville crowd that Zarutska’s blood was on Cooper’s hands.
The available prison records contradict the assertion that the 2021 settlement released the accused killer, DeCarlos Brown Jr.
According to North Carolina Department of Adult Correction records examined by PolitiFact, Brown was released from prison on Sept. 20, 2020 – five months before the settlement. Corrections officials said that Brown served his required sentence and was not released early under the agreement.
The Whatley campaign has argued that subsequent decisions allowing Brown to remain free reflected Cooper’s broader approach to criminal justice.
Trump also compared Cooper to former Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis, whose 1988 presidential campaign was damaged by the notorious Willie Horton case.
Whatley went after Cooper’s handling of Hurricane Helene, accusing him of attending a climate change event in New York while the storm approached North Carolina.
Cooper did attend a New York Times climate conference on Sept. 25, 2024, however, he returned to North Carolina that day. He’d already requested emergency powers on Sept. 24 and held a state emergency briefing on Sept. 27 as the storm moved into North Carolina.
Trump also accused Cooper of doing virtually nothing to help western North Carolina after the hurricane and he said the recovery only began when Trump returned to office in January 2025. That characterization overlooks emergency response and recovery efforts undertaken by state and federal agencies during the nearly four months between the storm and Trump’s inauguration.
Whatley made additional allegations involving electricity costs, insurance premiums, housing regulations and spending on disaster recovery. He claimed, among other things, that Cooper’s policies had contributed to a 183 percent increase in health insurance premiums and that $100 million intended for hurricane relief had been diverted to housing for undocumented immigrants.
Other criticism involved actions Cooper unquestionably did take as governor.
For instance, Whatley criticized Cooper for vetoing legislation requiring North Carolina sheriffs to cooperate with federal immigration officials on detention requests.
Cooper vetoed such legislation in 2019 and 2022 – arguing that requiring local sheriffs to perform federal immigration duties would divert law enforcement resources and raise constitutional concerns.
Republicans argued that the legislation was necessary to keep dangerous offenders from being released into North Carolina communities.
The two candidates also questioned Cooper’s physical and mental fitness for office.
Whatley suggested that Cooper, who’s spent decades in public office, was experiencing mental decline. Trump repeated questions about Cooper’s health and argued that candidates for major offices should undergo cognitive testing.
Trump devoted a substantial portion of the rally to his own administration’s economic record, arguing that employment, incomes, investments and the stock market were reaching unprecedented levels.
He also repeated his promise to pay out $5,000 to every adult American citizen if Republicans maintain control of the House and Senate.
“If we lose, you get nothing,” Trump said.
He described the proposed payment as a dividend from the economic benefits of tariffs and other administration policies, while saying recipients would be required to invest the money in the United States.
The proposal hasn’t been approved by Congress, and the administration has not presented a detailed plan establishing how it would be funded or distributed.
The president also announced what he described as major new investments in North Carolina’s semiconductor industry.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick joined Trump onstage to announce that Sibelco, an industrial minerals company, plans to construct a quartz manufacturing facility in the state, representing an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars.
The president also announced a planned $1.5 billion Department of Defense investment in semiconductor production in North Carolina –although details of that commitment weren’t provided during the speech.
Whatley said the election represented a fundamental choice between his commitment to lower taxes, economic development and public safety and what he characterized as Cooper’s liberal policies.
Trump, who credited Whatley with helping Republicans win the 2024 presidential election as chairman of the Republican National Committee, repeatedly praised him as a capable and determined leader.
The president also urged voters to support Republican congressional candidates Laurie Buckhout and Jennifer Balkcom and said he might return to North Carolina before Election Day.
Throughout the evening, Trump and Whatley emphasized the stakes of the November election and the possibility that control of Congress could change hands.
Put us out of this misery, please. What’s-his-name would have trouble being elected dogcatcher. The dogs would win!
Probably the most laughable ad by Cooper right now is the one which states taxpayers are paying more for electricity in the state because Whatley was a lobbyist for power cos. It is up to lawmakers whether or not they actually agree with the lobbyist and follow through. However, as governor, Cooper signed an Executive Order called the Clean Power Plan, in which he promoted the wind farms off the NC coast and solar farms in the state, while cutting coal use at Duke Power and CP&L and increasing citizens` electricity rates anywhere from 26-36% in the process.
Cooper cares about our environment and climate…unlike Watley taking money to be a professional liar about the impact of coal and oil-based energy.
Also note that green energy is cheaper than coal and gas:
Unsubsidized new solar typically costs between $38–$78 per megawatt-hour (MWh) and onshore wind costs $37–$86/MWh, whereas new coal ranges much higher from $71 to $173/MWh.
And every part of solar and wind powered equipment is made with more petroleum products than you can shake a stick at:
One standard 3-Megawatt (MW) onshore wind turbine:
• 900 Tons of Steel & Iron: Manufacturing the tower, nacelle, and rotor requires massive amounts of steel. Producing 1 ton of steel in a traditional coal-fired blast furnace releases roughly 1.85 tons of \(CO_{2}\).
• 2,500 Tons of Concrete: The foundation anchoring the turbine to the earth requires heavy mixing and curing. Cement production is highly carbon-intensive, releasing about 0.9 tons of \(CO_{2}\) per ton of cement produced.
• 15 to 20 Tons of Plastics/Resins: The massive turbine blades are made of fiberglass and carbon fiber bound together by petroleum-based epoxy resins.
• 180 to 250 Gallons of Synthetic Oil: The gearbox requires heavy-duty industrial lubricants to smooth mechanical rotation, which must be flushed and replaced every 3 to 5 years over a 25-year lifespan (totaling roughly 1,000 to 1,500 gallons over its lifetime).
• Transportation & Installation Fuel: Shipping components from factories via ocean freighters, heavy-duty trucks, and operating the massive diesel cranes to erect the turbine consumes an estimated 2,000 to 5,000 gallons of diesel fuel per turbine.
But sure, after all that mining and pollution, and expense, then they’re green until you need another one.
i will collect these ingredients & build one . . . thnx
—————-
Brits are discovering that Solar Energy doesn’t work so great in a gray, cloudy, rainy island !
And the windmills sit around uselessly most of the time.
In America we call this “A Reality Check”.
*
PS Coal and nuclear energy work all the time, every time, 365/24/7.
That is why solar power farms used by utilities involve storage of power. In American we call this planning. In truth the UK well understood the nature of their weather. Are you pretending that they didn’t? Weird to think electrical grid engineers in your homeland are THAT stupid.
What I have read of UK’s struggles with converting to green energy is the need to upgrade the energy grid itself to better accommodate the wide range of green energy solutions required to move away from coal and gas. Given that 2/3 of UK power from low carbon sources and over 50% from wind or solar, hydro, or bio points to your sneering at green energy being off base as you usually are in your comments.
Cheers Doodle Do Do Do
————–
No sneering… just facts. I know you have a problem with reality Chrissy (“Professor” ..!), but as Reagan said “Facts are stubborn things”.
And my brother in Yorkshire tells me that the government is preparing the British people for sporadic total loss of power, like Cuba, South Africa nowadays, or any other Third World Country.
If it takes place, I’ll let you know.
Weird….you only stated your opinion with no supporting evidence as my comment did.
Oh well. Not shocked Austin again avoids any real discussion of a topic beyond his personal opinion.
Cheers
. . . cleaning up our lungs ‘in the process’.
Cooper likes to say the sheriffs support him because he reduced crime. His own SBI shows only burglary and auto theft reduced, while rape/sexual assault, murder, aggravated assault, weapons possession/trafficking, drug possession/trafficking, and DWI have all increased. He says he stopped Fentanyl at the border of the state, but Fentanyl is up and overdoses have doubled. In fact, one of the largest Fentanyl busts occurred in Raleigh in 2023. Is this what the sheriffs support?
Roy Cooper failed North Carolina as governor, and we cannot afford to send him to the U.S. Senate. From 2017 to 2025, everyday costs exploded under his watch: groceries up 32%, gasoline 15%, electricity 36%, housing 40%, and rent 42%. He raised the cost of living while fighting common-sense measures on crime and immigration. North Carolina needs a senator who will stand with President Trump and actually fight for lower costs and safer communities. Michael Whatley is that candidate. He’ll serve well past Trump’s second term and keep fighting for us. It’s time to say NO TO COOPER and elect Michael Whatley.
So now the fault of global inflation from the pandemic is placed on the Governor of NC? What a joke.
How about we NOT put in office a guy who brags he wants to continue the same policies of the guy in office today whose approach to foreign policy has is actively driving up our cost of living TODAY.
Vote Cooper. Vote for being rationale thinking and intelligence back to Washington.
Cheers
——————–
If it’s true that Trump promised $5,000 to every American if the GOP retains power, I find that disgusting.
And I’m on the “Far Right”.
Or so they tell me….
If it’s true? He has said it multiple times.
But welcome the world that understands what a corrupt human being Trump actually is…..
Cheers
—————-
At least he didn’t bribe the Ukrainian government – with taxpayer money – to call off an investigation into his son.
Just more deflection from Austin….yawn
“Right Far” away ?
DONT BELIEVE THE HYPE!! BACK UP YOUR COMMENTS WITH FULL RESEARCH AND FULL FACTS, NOT JUST POLITICAL RHETORIC!! IF YOU ALL WATCH AND LISTEN TO MOST POLITICIANS, THEY VERY SELDOM DESCRIBE FULL DETAILS OF THE POLICIES THAT THEY WILL PASS, AND NEVER OFFER A POLITICAL REPORT CARD DURING THEIR TERM AS TO THEIR PERFORMANCE!!! WHEN YOU HAVE A JOB, YOU HAVE A PERFORMANCE EVALUATION, AND IT DETERMINES WHETHER YOU GET MORE MONEY IN SOME CASES OR WHETHER OR NOT YOU GET TO KEEP YOUR POSITION WITH THE FIRM OR ENTITY THAT YOU WORK FOR!! VOTING IS SOMEWHAT OF A PROCESS SIMILAR, BUT THE INTEGRITY OF THE VOTING PROCESS HAS BEEN TAMPERED WITH SO MUCH THAT, ONE THAT IS INTELLIGENT MUST ASK, THE QUESTION, WHY DONT WE HAVE A POLITICAL REPORT CARD BEFORE WE VOTE, ON WHAT HAS BEEN DONE PRIOR TO ELECTING A TOTAL STRANGER THAT WE KNOW VERY LITTLE ABOUT ??? HMMM?
Sometimes, what we don’t know is better than what we do know. What do we know about Cooper? He is pro NAACP, which was paradoxically proved when the NAACP sued Roy Cooper for the release of 4,423 NC inmates on February 25,2021, which was most likely a plan concocted by Cooper and the NAACP. Cooper is pro-abortion, which he proved when he veto a bill that would have kept abortion at 12 weeks, Cooper wanted abortion allowed for far longer than 12 weeks. Regardless how White women spin it, abortion is murder. Cooper did not handle hurricane recovery for the victims. His actions show that he did not care, especially during Helene, which hit McDowell County hard. Was it because McDowell County is not his kind of people and he only cares about URBAN city voters in Guilford, Wake, Mecklenburg, etc? If so, why would anyone in the non-urban areas vote for loser Cooper?
Cooper is an aw-sucks, lazy looser relying on Blacks, Jews, liberal Whites for votes. If you, voters, do not fall into one of these holes, vote for Michael Whatley. Cooper is not your man. Cooper would not walk across a street to render aid; he is too lazy, and he simply does not care. Cooper is a known politician, and that is a good thing because now you know NOT to vote for him.
Vote FOR Michael Whatley.
People are stupid. They have heard of Coop and so vote for one who will support every communist bill the party presents. They want cheap gas, a nuclear Iran and free stuff.
Just another conservative parroting the propaganda lies like a good little sheep.
– Name one communist bill they are proposing…..last I checked democrats had zero interest in national ownership of production. Just a lie they picked up from a meme on facebook and parroted like a good sheep.
– Is wanting cheap gas now a bad thing? Morons now think expensive gas is good thing.
– Democrats negotiated a nuclear free Iran until the Morons were told it was ‘worst deal ever’ even though it was working exactly as designed which had inspectors onsite etc…etc……so now Drump rips up a perfectly good deal so he can war monger and jack up prices globally and waste billions in your tax dollars for zero purpose….and the morons think this is a good thing because they were told to believe that by their cult leader.
– No one wants free stuff. People want fare wages and the wealthy to be forced to report and pay taxes on ALL of their income.
But you be you.
Cheers
NC state records show that the NC prison system released 4,234 inmates on February 25, 2021, as result of a lawsuit settlement from a lawsuit filed by the NAACP and the ACLU, suing Governor Cooper directly for release of inmates allegedly due to prison overcrowding during Covid. Why the NAACP sued Governor Cooper directly is a true curiosity. The NAACP did not take part in any other similar lawsuits in other states, and no other governor was sued directly. There is a story here. My guess it involves the closeness between Cooper and the NAACP. A state report in 2024 found a 48% recidivism rate amount those inmates released, with 18 individuals later charged with murder and over 600 committing serious felonies. However, as far as I know, no one suffered from a bout of Covid.
As far as DeCarlos Brown, Jr., he was originally sentenced to 6 years and 1 month; he was released early having served 5 years and 7 months. When Brown later appeared before a magistrate in Charlotte, charged with misusing the 911 system, the magistrate released him in January 2025 with a written promise to appear. The unanswered question is, did the magistrate see the police report from the 911 welfare check, or did the police officers who responded to the 911 welfare check call appear before the magistrate before releasing Brown? If so, she would have learned that Brown told the responding officers that “man-made” materials were controlling his body. Had the magistrate taken either one of these steps, she would have concluded that DeCarlos Brown, Jr. had been suffering a mental episode in front of the officers, and a mental evaluation was in order rather a release. If the magistrate did not read the officers’ report of the event, or failed to request the officers appear, then she is guilty of dereliction of the duties of a magistrate and she should have been fired. Regardless of sentencing rules/guidelines, common sense should have prevailed, and the magistrate should not have released Brown, finding that Brown needed a mental evaluation. Had the magistrate not released Brown, the murder of beautiful Irna Zarutska on August 22, 2025, would not have happened. How does Cooper fit into Irna Zarutska’s murder? Cooper’s prevailing soft on crime attitude.
Let’s talk about hurricanes. During Cooper’s time, there were three major hurricanes: Matthew on 10/8/2016, Florence on 9/14/2018, and Helene on 9/27/2024. There are 1,100 families still displaced by Matthew and Florence, and as far as Hurricane Helene is concerned, not one single home was rebuilt after Helene under Cooper.
After Hurricane Florence in 2018, the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency (NCORR) was created supposedly to oversee disaster relief. The NCORR reported to the Department of Safety (DPS) which reported directly to Governor Cooper’s office with Cooper having direct oversight. NCORR was rich with money. Whenever you have a program with millions of dollars to spend, the program is ripe for abuse and mismanagement, which is what happened with NCORR funds. The failures of NCORR are too many to mention here but can be found on the Internet. However, the claim that Cooper spent millions of the money on housing for illegals cannot be verified. But what can be verified is that Cooper’s administration redirected approximately $100 million in disaster relief funds to low-income housing projects. And the recipients of the aid did not have to be hurricane victims. Was any of the low-income housing projects for illegals? A 2025 legislative report on the NCORR stated that Cooper “deliberately kept himself out of the process,” and the report concluded that responsibility for NCORR’s failures extended to Cooper, who “ignored the problems through multiple legislative hearings and critical media reports.” It is my opinion that lack of oversight was laziness on the part of Cooper. We do not need a lazy senator.
As far as Roy Cooper may be experiencing illness, where there is smoke there is fire. A high-priced lawyer from DC had a cease and desist order directed against a reporter to stop questions about Cooper’s health.
VOTE for Michael Whatley for US Senate.
Still pushing the lies about Brown being released by Cooper? What a joke. He was released on parole before Coopers release program started. Since the lawsuit was about overcrowding, he was included in the count to hit the target impact.
Who has withheld aid for Helena? Trump….who by the way….publicly stated he withhold more aid if Cooper is elected. THAT is who Whatley wants to emulate.
Vote Cooper. Bring decency back to Washington.
Please tell me where I stated Brown was released by Cooper. Please re-read the passage.
I did not say Cooper withheld aid. I said no houses were rebuilt under Cooper after Helene.
.
At no time has Michael Whatley said he wants to emulate Trump.
Is your problem that you read what you think is there rather than what is actually there?
Direct quote from Whatley during his CPAC speak……“A vote for North Carolina’s U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley is a vote for President Donald Trump’s agenda.”
Apologies on my assumption what you were implying by Cooper not having any home rebuild during the 3 entire months he was in office after Helena. to be fare 3 months is barely enough time to have even cleaned up after such a massive amount of damage.
Linking Brown to Cooper is a huge stretch with no basis in reality but glad you have stopped repeating the Whatley lie about that being Coopers fight.
Cheers
Cooper is so far ahead that RealClearPolitics isn’t even featuring NC on it’s front page polling list of close Senate races.
Trump is not a credible source as a campaigner, defending Vivek Ramaswamy’s vicious ad in the Ohio gubernatorial race against Amy Acton, featuring her mother who stayed with her stepfather after Acton was removed from the home at 12 years old after the stepfather sexually abused her.
Cheering on fights at his half empty rallies and lifting sanctions on Putin as oil soars ever higher during the elongated Iran war. Just the tip of the iceberg!
It was reported that Dwight D. Eisenhower’s antique globe was broken by Pete Hegseth’s staff when he demanded it be moved into his office. Pentagon’s reply: “Accidents happen.”
Metaphor for the entire scope of US foreign policy under Trump.
The Coop is a hypocrite. (As Skip-the-hyp). He is for all these things that everyone would want, but in his nearly eight years in office, he has delivered little, if anything. He will march to the tune of the DSP who raised all this money to flip a senate seat. When the DSP needs his vote, the Coop WILL deliver, or he’ll be out of a 12-year wealth accumulating job.
I have never seen AMERICA running better ……or felt safer…….why change ?
F skinny neck Cooper