Former North Carolina governor and current Democratic Senate candidate Roy Cooper is facing renewed scrutiny over his administration’s release of thousands of inmates during the coronavirus pandemic.
His defense took a remarkable turn when he suggested some parties were upset that North Carolina did not empty its prisons even further.
CNN congressional correspondent Manu Raju pressed Cooper about whether he regretted how his administration handled a settlement with civil rights organizations seeking to reduce the prison population.
Raju noted that roughly 3,500 prisoners were released early and called the agreement the centerpiece of the Republican campaign against him.
Cooper answered, “This is something that the state had to do, because the court ordered it,” presenting the releases as an obligation rather than a policy choice.
That explanation is now central to his effort to deflect political responsibility.
He then added, “And, I think a lot of people believe, if you ask the plaintiffs, they were very frustrated that more weren’t released.”
For voters concerned about violent crime, pointing out that left wing plaintiffs wanted additional releases is hardly a reassuring answer.
Republican Senate candidate Michael Whatley has focused his attacks on Cooper’s record on crime and the settlement reached during his governorship.
Whatley has argued that the actual number of convicted criminals released under Cooper could be greater than 4,200, well above the initial figure commonly cited.
Reporting on the agreement found that Cooper and far left organizations announced a settlement in 2021 calling for 3,500 convicted criminals to leave state prison.
Subsequent reporting placed the final total at approximately 4,200 inmates, adding another layer of controversy to an issue Cooper would clearly prefer to leave behind.
When the settlement was first announced, prison officials said only inmates whose sentences ended in 2021 would be released.
Officials later had to correct that representation before a state legislative committee, acknowledging that violent offenders would also be included in the release program.
The identities of individual offenders were initially shielded from public view, keeping lawmakers and citizens from seeing exactly who benefited.
The list became public after it was confirmed that DeCarlos Brown, the man accused of murdering Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on Charlotte’s light rail system, appeared on it.
Cooper insisted his administration was motivated by safety concerns, telling Raju, “This was something that we wanted to do to make sure we worked to protect the public,” Critics are unlikely to accept that claim without asking why the public received so little information about the inmates involved.
The former governor also attempted to shift attention toward President Donald Trump, claiming state officials followed the approach of the Trump administration.
Cooper pointed to federal prisoner releases during the pandemic and cited legislation signed by Trump, a comparison that avoids the specific decisions made under Cooper’s own authority.
Cooper accused Republicans of “lying about all of these cases that they’re trying to connect to this,” while describing himself as “the one who has actually prosecuted violent criminals and put them behind bars.”
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That prosecutorial record is now colliding with the far more politically inconvenient record of his years as governor.
During an August campaign appearance, Cooper offered a similar defense, saying, “Independent fact checks show most of what they’re saying is simply not true. I’m the only one in this race who’s actually prosecuted violent criminals and worked to keep them behind bars.”
Republicans are making sure voters also hear what happened after those criminals were convicted.
Court and public records show that Cooper settled litigation brought by far left groups through an agreement requiring thousands of convicted criminals to be released.
Breitbart News reported that Cooper was the only governor in the country to sign a legally binding agreement requiring his state to release prisoners under such terms.
The controversy extends beyond the settlement itself because Cooper repeatedly opposed Republican backed public safety measures while serving as governor.
He vetoed legislation requiring cooperation with ICE detainers, increasing penalties for rioting, and allowing more juvenile crimes to move into the justice system.
North Carolina voters now have a straightforward question before them as Cooper seeks a Senate seat.
They can weigh his claims of prosecutorial toughness against a gubernatorial record that included thousands of prisoner releases, hidden offender details, vetoes of enforcement measures, and a baffling complaint that some activists wanted even more inmates freed.
