WASHINGTON — Rep. Madison Cawthorn doubled down Friday evening about the cocaine and orgies he claims happens among members of Congress, though his comments have stirred backlash among senior members of the GOP.
“Corruption and unethical activities exist in Washington,” the freshman Republican from North Carolina tweeted. “It’s an indisputable fact. If you don’t think that’s true, you’ve not witnessed the Swamp.”
Cawthorn landed in hot water with his party leaders this week after appearing on the podcast, Warrior Poet Society, and alleging that members of Congress in their 60s and 70s have invited him to orgies and have done lines of cocaine in front of him.
Cawthorn’s comments rattled Washington and led House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to call him into a meeting in his office. Other Republican members of Congress tried to distance themselves from the 26-year-old freshman.
In a statement on Twitter Friday, Cawthorn wrote that he debated how to address the podcast’s comments and their fallout. He blamed the media and the left, saying they are “terrified” of Republicans taking back the House and seeing McCarthy become speaker.
“My comments on a recent podcast appearance calling out corruption have been used by the left and the media to disparage my Republican colleagues and falsely insinuate their involvement in illicit activities,” Cawthorn said.
“The culture in Washington is corrupt,” Cawthorn wrote. “Human nature is fallen. Compromising activities occur because when other people can place you in compromising positions, they control you. If you want someone who will throw the entire DC swamp into a meltdown because I call out corruption — send me back.”
Cawthorn faces seven primary opponents in his bid for reelection for a district representing western North Carolina.
McCarthy told reporters after meeting with Cawthorn that the congressman told him he had exaggerated the orgies and could only come up with one instance where he saw someone — a staffer — doing cocaine, 100 feet away in a parking garage. McCarthy said that Cawthorn lost his trust. Consequences, such as stripping him of committee assignments, were on the table, McCarthy said.
While Democrats weighed in on Cawthorn’s latest controversy, Republicans made their own fuss.
Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina announced Thursday he supports one of Cawthorn’s opponents, state Sen. Chuck Edwards, to replace Cawthorn in Congress.
N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate Leader Phil Berger hosted a lunch for Edwards Thursday and threw their support behind him, though the event had been planned weeks before, Moore told The News & Observer Friday afternoon.
Moore, asked about his decision to endorse Edwards, said he no longer has words for Cawthorn’s actions and statements.
In the past month, Cawthorn also made headlines after being charged for the second time driving while his license is revoked and after WRAL uncovered a video of Cawthorn calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a thug.
“I’m just astounded by some of the ridiculous comments he’s made and he continues to make,” Moore told The N&O.
“As outrageous and stupid as (the orgy) comment was, I’ll tell you the thing that he said that really bothered me even more, and that was his comment about President Zelenskyy and Ukraine,” Moore said. “Because that has true significant impact on an international crisis, so much so that when he said those ridiculous comments, the Russian state media was rebroadcasting them as an accurate representation of the views of the members of the U.S. Congress.”
Moore said he can’t stress enough “how bad that was.”
Moore said North Carolina has legitimate needs that members of Congress need to be working on with state lawmakers, but none of them take Cawthorn seriously. He said the state is fortunate to have leaders like Tillis they can rely on.
Meanwhile, just hours before Cawthorn’s latest statement and Moore’s comments, former President Donald Trump announced that Cawthorn would join him at a rally in Selma on April 9. Trump will be in Johnston County to support the campaign of Rep. Ted Budd, who is seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.
“I will not back down to the mob, and I will not let them win,” Cawthorn wrote. “I will continue to fight for many years to come.”
Cawthorn, who says he supports term limits, has said he wants to run for governor in the future.
