An undercover video shows North Carolina Democrat Senate candidate Roy Cooper refusing, at least four times, to apologize to the families of murder victims connected to a mass prison release that occurred under his watch as governor.
The footage, shared by conservative X user Matt Van Swol, captures a roughly 90-second exchange between Cooper and an unnamed person at a campaign event. Breitbart News matched the video’s timestamp to a September 2 campaign rally in Cabarrus County, a fast-growing suburban area just outside Charlotte, North Carolina.
When asked what he would say to the hundreds of victims of violent crimes committed by criminals released under the policy, Cooper responded: “Look, we followed the court order. The state followed the court order to have those inmates released and it was critical that the state follow the court order.”
That explanation is false. Cooper himself agreed to the order in question, making him the only governor in the country to sign such a legally binding document. Democrat governors in Colorado, Illinois, and New Jersey all fought off similar release lawsuits in their own states rather than sign on.
Cooper went on to accuse his Republican opponent, Michael Whatley, of lying about the details of the release, but offered no evidence to back up that claim.
When pressed again on what he would tell victims’ families, Cooper repeated the false claim that he never signed the order, then added: “anyone who has that situation, is in a terrible, terrible situation, I pray for them and have sat with many victims’ families.”
Asked twice more whether he had apologized, Cooper pivoted to a familiar campaign talking point, saying he prosecuted violent criminals and kept them in jail. He also claimed, without offering evidence, that he signed tougher laws for violent criminals and tougher bail laws as governor.
The record tells a different story. Among the measures Cooper vetoed during his eight years as governor were bills to increase penalties for rioting and to require cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He also signed the 2020 executive order that laid out his soft-on-crime approach, recommending that the state “reimagine” public safety and weaken its bail laws.
By the end of the exchange, Cooper appears visibly agitated, shouting, “this whole campaign’s been based on lies, okay?” He then motions for a staffer to move the unnamed questioner away from him, and the video cuts off.
