Who is Madison Cawthorn and why is he in so many scandals?
Considered a rising Republican star, the youngest congressman has been struck by numerous problems in the buildup to the North Carolina primary.
Madison Cawthorn is once again in the headlines after another scandal hit Twitter. In a video posted by American Muckrakers PAC, a group set up to stop Cawthorn being reelected this year, a man identified as Cawthorn can be seen thrusting his crotch into the face of a man on a bed.
“We were acting foolish, and joking. That’s it,” he said. “I’m NOT backing down...blackmail won’t win”, Cawthorn said in a tweet.
Usually in blackmail something needs to be extorted out of someone, but the group freely posted the video.
It is not the first scandal for Cawthorn who was once seen as the MAGA darling of the Republican party. He has since been dogged by scandal after scandal. The New York Times described the scandals against him as “piling up” in an article before the latest news broke.
Who is Madison Cawthorn?
When he was voted into the House of Representatives in 2021, he was the youngest Republican to ever be elected at age 25. This is the youngest age an American can be to sit in Congress. Since this date, Cawthorn has made a number of headlines for numerous scandals.
Before he made it into Congress, Cawthorn was accused of sexual misconduct and sexual assault. The accusations followed him along the campaign trail and were taken up by Buzzfeed which published an investigation into his actions.
Perhaps the most significant scandal to date was his declaration in an interview of “the sexual perversion that goes on in Washington” and said he had been invited to an orgy by an unnamed lawmaker, as well as the use of cocaine in Congress. After discussions with Republican leaders, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said told reporters that Cawthorn had admitted his claims were exaggerated or untrue.
“He changes what he tells and that’s not becoming of a congressman. He did not tell the truth [and] that’s unacceptable”, McCarthy told reporters.
This “sexual perversion” he claims to see in Congress can be attested too by recent images of Cawthorn dressed in women’s lingerie in a party.
There has also been two occasions in which Cawthorn has been caught with a loaded firearm on a plane, most recently in April 2022. He is also facing jail time for driving his car without a license with an upcoming court date this month.
There is only so much the Republican party can tolerate, though his links to the now dominant Trump-wing of the party means he could still escape retribution.