Madison Cawthorn

The Fire Madison Cawthorn group, operated by the American Muckrakers PAC, accused the North Carolina congressman of ethical violations, including paying ...

A political group has submitted evidence to the Office of Congressional Ethics suggesting that rep. The short clips show the pair in a car with Cawthorn recorded saying: "I feel the passion and desire, and would like to see a naked body beneath my hands." The congressman also suggested the series of controversies that have dogged him ahead of his primary election bid on May 17 are part of a GOP-led campaign to have him kicked out of office. However, the Fire Madison Cawthorn group has used them in evidence to suggest the congressman may have an relationship with one of his staff members that goes beyond professional and is potentially prohibited by House laws. In several Venmo payments Cawthorn is alleged to have sent to Smith, which have not been verified by Newsweek, the congressman added notes reading: "Getting naked for me in Sweden," "the stuff we did in Amsterdam," "the quickie at the airport" and "breaking and entering." The filings also suggest that Cawthorn is engaging in an improper relationship with Smith which is "separate and apart from the professional relationship" of employer and employee.

Footage showing Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C., joking about sex with his male aide in a car surfaced Thursday.

The representative has argued that the release of this video is an attempt to discredit it him over comments made about fellow lawmakers. The video then shows Smith reaching over into Cawthorn's crotch before abruptly ending. The video is only the latest in a series of issues Cawthorn has faced in recent months. It was filmed by his aide, Stephen Smith, 23, according to the Daily Mail. The duo both start laughing as Smith agrees. The group Fire Madison Cawthorn included the video as part of an ethics complaint accusing the congressman of improper loans and gifts to Smith.

Rep. Madison Cawthorn ( R-N.C.) has been a lightning rod for controversy. The 26-year-old freshman lawmaker, who was elected to represent North Carolina's ...

They urged the TSA “to act decisively to ensure repeat offenders like Cawthorn face the full extent of TSA’s enforcement actions.” There needs to be a thorough and bipartisan inquiry into the matter by the House Ethics Committee,” Tillis tweeted. “Remember that Zelensky is a thug,” Cawthorn said in the undated recording. We invite you to join the discussion on Facebook and Twitter. He added that he has seen people who advocate against addiction doing “key bumps of cocaine.” “That’s not becoming of a congressman. You should come.’ … You realize they are asking you to come to an orgy,” Cawthorn said. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) later said Cawthorn gave him no evidence to back up his statements. “I love this country and have never engaged in, or would ever engage in, an insurrection against the United States.” And Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) on Wednesday called for a House Ethics Committee investigation into Cawthorn over allegations of insider trading. I do not want Americans dying because emotions pushed us into a conflict.” They are not expendable pawns to be dispatched at the whims of an idiot, tossed carelessly around the world to Godforsaken caves and bloody sandboxes.

The rate at which dirt on Cawthorn is coming out is shocking. It looks like he's made enemies in all the wrong places.

Still, at the end of the day, Cawthorn has done most of this to himself. None of this means Cawthorn is definitively toast. After the state finished its redistricting maps for the 2022 election, Cawthorn announced that he would run in a newly-drawn district that included the Charlotte area – even as Tim Moore, the speaker in North Carolina’s state house, was eyeing the same new district. That’s what makes the rate at which dirt about Cawthorn is emerging so shocking. It was dissatisfaction at that too-cosy endorsement that allowed Cawthorn to win over support. Cawthorn’s communications director initially said he could not give any response until he saw the video, but offered up an even more damning detail: Cawthorn and Smith are apparently cousins, which could mean that the congressman had violated a federal statute that says public officials cannot employ their own relatives.

Republican Madison Cawthorn has recently been subject to numerous controversies, and at least one member of his party is calling for an ethics investigation ...

In one, Cawthorn seemingly addresses the controversy stemming from recent leaked footage and photos with: "Many of my colleagues would be nowhere near politics if they had grown up with a cell phone in their hands." The group says Cawthorn did — by promoting former President Trump's baseless election conspiracies. "Insider trading by a member of Congress is a serious betrayal of their oath, and Congressman Cawthorn owes North Carolinians an explanation," Tillis wrote on Twitter earlier this week. But in recent weeks, the controversy has seemingly reached a crescendo, spurred at least in part by Cawthorn's March appearance on a podcast, in which he suggested other, older lawmakers in Washington, D.C., were doing drugs and engaging in orgies. The lawmaker has previously stirred up controversy for a racist campaign statement about Sen. Cory Booker, for his vote to overturn the 2020 election despite no evidence of widespread fraud and for more recent comments about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which he subsequently clarified. "There needs to be a thorough and bipartisan inquiry into the matter by the House Ethics Committee."

The Madison Cawthorn scandal exposes how the GOP depends on right-wing media to delude their base.

For those folks, Fox News is the "mainstream" source that they watch to validate the even more delusional crap they get off their internet buddies. The Republican goal here is clearly getting Cawthorn out of Congress and, more crucially, out of the right-wing media ecosystem. The Cawthorn scandal is a hilarious good time and no one should feel bad about laughing over it. Indeed, the image Cawthorn was trying to construct of himself on the "Warrior Poet Society" podcast was as a teetotaling naif who cannot believe the deviance he's exposed to in the big city. Worse, that bubble isn't just composed of, or even primarily composed of, major media outlets that ordinary news consumers have heard of, like Fox News. Conservative media consumers are embedded in an infinite-seeming number of smaller and often independent outlets that fly under the radar of most people who aren't in the bubble. None of that information will penetrate the information bubble Republican voters have constructed for themselves, of fundamentalist YouTubers and Facebook personalities like Ben Shapiro and Candace Owens. Inside that bubble, the image of Republican politicians is very different: That they're all pious, clean-living Christians who spend their Saturday nights in prayerful reflection instead of sucking down overpriced cocktails at the bar in Trump's D.C. hotel. But for people who live inside the conservative media bubble, this sort of stuff could easily be read as Satanic decadence. It is not exactly shocking news to consumers of mainstream media to hear Republicans on Capitol Hill like to tie one on. Considering that breathless urban legend-style stories are the lingua franca of right-wing media, one would think that Republicans would just blow this one off as Cawthorn doing what he usually does, which is talking smack to get attention. Nah, it's because he went on some podcast run by something called the "Warrior Poet Society" and declared that Republican congressmen in their 60s and 70s invite him to orgies and do cocaine in front of him. They're way more worried about cocaine-and-orgies talk on a Christian podcast — one few in the legacy media had even heard of — than what's printed in the New York Times. In a world where so much news is just plain depressing, it's an unexpected delight to watch the Republican establishment pull out their bag of dirty tricks and rat-f**k one of their own.

"Please disclose which Republican House Members offered you cocaine and invited you to an orgy," liberal political action committee MeidasTouch tweeted.

Stone wrote in a post on his Telegram channel on March. (RINO is an acronym for "Republican in name only." Right-wing strategist Roger Stone, an ally of former President Donald Trump—who publicly endorsed Cawthorn's reelection bid—said that the congressman told him he never denied the remarks in his conversation with McCarthy. "The PAC that filed the complaint did no research." Although McCarthy told reporters that Cawthorn admitted the orgy and cocaine claims were untrue, Cawthorn did not do so publicly. It also included screenshots of alleged 2018 Venmo payments from Cawthorn to Smith, which included messages reading: "The quickie at the airport" and "Getting naked for me in Sweden," among other suggestive comments. The man filming the video, who is Stephen Smith according to a new ethics complaint and is listed by Congressweb as Cawthorn's scheduler, responds, "me too," before reaching over and rubbing his hand on the GOP lawmaker's crotch area.

Madison Cawthorn is facing a flurry of allegations of ethical violations. But some experts are wary that Congress will not do much about it.

The complaint accuses Cawthorn of violating US House ethics rules by allegedly providing free housing and gifts to Stephen Smith, one of his staff members. "The Investigative Subcommittee and the Committee no longer have jurisdiction over him. In most cases, the office will make their investigations public, if they believe wrongdoing occurred. In response, the man says, "Me too. Censure is a formal statement of disapproval carried out on the House floor. The most recent expulsion came in 2002, when Congress kicked Rep. James Traficant, an Ohio Democrat, out of the US House.

A political action group is asking for an ethics investigation of North Carolina Republican Rep. Madison Cawthorn, citing his pattern of bringing weapons ...

Cawthorn's office did not have a statement in response to the allegations, but instead pointed CBS News to the congressman's recent tweets. OCE did not respond to a request for comment, but Muckrakers PAC published a screenshot of an email from the office confirming that it had received the request for an investigation. "We have a responsibility to have an ethical standard here," she told reporters. The provide documents that appear to show Smith lives in a house owned by Cawthorn without any repayment. "They have to take care of their own house. They also suggest the two may have an inappropriate personal relationship – which is prohibited between a lawmaker and a member of their staff — citing, among other things, the fact that Smith accompanied Cawthorn on his honeymoon to Dubai in April 2021 and a video that appears to show Smith placing his hand on Cawthorn's crotch.

Representative Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, once a bright young star in the conservative firmament, finds himself besieged by accusations and ...

The far-right wing of the party once viewed Mr. Cawthorn, a telegenic congressman who uses a wheelchair after a car crash at the age of 18, as a young leader with potential. Many of them have noted that even Donald Trump Jr., a popular figure on the right, has stayed quiet and made no attempt to come to his defense. But Mr. Wheeler said his group will keep up the pressure. The ethics complaint said Mr. Cawthorn has provided loans to Mr. Smith in violation of House rules. A legal effort led by North Carolina Democrats to label him as an “insurrectionist” and constitutionally disqualify him from the ballot failed last month. Another former aide, Lisa Wiggins, went public in an audio recording released by Mr. Wheeler with her consent, saying, “We all want the ultimate goal of him never serving again.” But the revelations about his conduct are making a splash. In rapid succession, Mr. Cawthorn, who entered Congress as a rising star of the party’s far right, has been accused of falsely suggesting that his Republican colleagues routinely throw cocaine-fueled orgies, insider trading and an inappropriate relationship with a male aide. Now its members keep him at arm’s length and view him as a troubled individual who isn’t always aligned with the base on the issues. And last month he was charged with driving with a revoked license for the second time since 2017. A political group supporting Senator Thom Tillis, Republican of North Carolina, has been pouring money into an ad campaign accusing Mr. Cawthorn of being a fame-seeking liar. The group is supporting the campaign of a more mainstream Republican, State Senator Chuck Edwards, who is running against Mr. Cawthorn. And the far-right, anti-establishment wing of the party now views the first-term congressman with similar skepticism, as someone who is falsely selling himself as a gatekeeper in his state to former President Donald J. Trump.

The first-term Republican accused his critics of engaging in "a campaign based on nothing but slander and personal attacks."

"What's pathetic is a 26 year old Congressman that believes the rules don't apply to him," American Muckrakers PAC President David B. Wheeler said in a statement to Newsweek when asked about Cawthorn's tweet. "At least be consistent with your attack instead of changing the focus every time," he continued. "I believe in some pretty aggressive government reforms," Cawthorn tweeted.

Congressman Madison Cawthorn is now facing a complaint, accusing him of several ethical violations. Caption: Group accuses Rep. Cawthorn of misconduct ...

I do not think this is likely.” ( Click here to see a list of investigations.) “It is possible he could lose his seat. “This is not a traditional court of law,” Cooper said. According to the OCE website, an investigation is initiated when at least two members of the OCE board request staff members to investigate a matter. Here’s a list of the allegations Fire Madison Cawthorn filed with the Office of Congressional Ethics:

In less than 24 hours, complaints have been filed with the House ethics committee, the Transportation Security Administration and the House sergeant-at-arms ...

Cawthorn posted a series of tweets Friday afternoon that read in part: “I can understand the establishment attacking those beliefs, but just digging stuff up from my early 20s to smear me is pathetic. The letter encourage TSA to pursue all appropriate action for repeat offenders, regardless of who they are. Smith is often seen to Cawthorn’s right when the congressman chooses to stand up at events and rallies. On Tuesday, Cawthorn was carrying a loaded 9-mm gun in his carry-on bag. This was the second time Cawthorn has carried a weapon into an airport. Smith and Cawthorn are also related to one another. He accuses both Cawthorn and his scheduler Smith of violating several House rules. Smith made nearly $34,108 working for the campaign, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Smith doesn’t just work for Cawthorn in Congress but also works on his campaign. Epoch Times is a right-wing news outlet connected to the Chinese religious movement Falun Gong. This week, he has blamed his Republican colleagues for what he calls a “drip campaign” against him. He is one of the people behind the Fire Madison organization, who opposes Cawthorn and is working to prevent him from being reelected.

Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina faces a congressional ethics complaint. The complaint alleges he violated ethics rules by providing gifts and money.

"The Investigative Subcommittee and the Committee no longer have jurisdiction over him. The complaint accuses Cawthorn of violating US House ethics rules by allegedly providing free housing and gifts to Stephen Smith, one of his staff members. In most cases, the office will make their investigations public, if they believe wrongdoing occurred. In response, the man says, "Me too. The most recent expulsion came in 2002, when Congress kicked Rep. James Traficant, an Ohio Democrat, out of the US House. That's because Congress' internal ethics investigations process is notoriously slow and opaque, often lasting many months.