Madison Cawthorn appears to be trying to commit every possible scandal. Since his 2020 election, the 26year-old started his political career with a series of false statements and has been a prodigy of veritable prodigy of controversy. Congress seemed to have generated so many horrible personal and ideological news stories.
Recently, he seems to be committing violations at a revved rate and focusing on mini-scandals and not-so-mini ones.
Crypto and Loaded Gun Incident
Last Tuesday, TSA officials prevented the House member from flying because he brought a loaded gun in his carry-on bag. That same day, he allegedly infringed insider trading laws. Then, in late December, Cawthorn remarked on an Instagram photo of himself and James Koutoulas, the key investor of LGB (Let’s Go Brandon) cryptocurrency.
The next day, LGB declared a sponsorship deal with NASCAR driver Brandon Brown and raised the value by 75%. Experts have it that Cawthorn had inside information about the deal. Its value has since dropped to zero. If he owned the cryptocurrency at that time, his participation in the pump-and-dump scheme acts could violate federal law.
The crypto and the loaded gun incidents are Cawthorn’s purposeless bizarre stunts. He appeared to have dug himself into numerous pits.
A couple of months back, he brought a hunting knife into a school-board meeting and confessed to Olivia Nuzzi that he illegally carried the same weapon into Congress.
Lying About His College Acceptances
Cawthorn first drew attention during his campaign for misrepresenting critical aspects of his biography. For example, he swore the car accident left him paralyzed and robbed him of his ambition of joining the Naval Academy. But, his application was rejected even before the accident. He also claimed being admitted to Princeton and an online Harvard program but later confessed it never happened.
When he was a teenager, he and his friend Brandley Ledford drove back to North Carolina from Florida when Ledford fell asleep at the wheel and crashed into a structure barricade. That accident left him with limited use of his leg. In a 2017 speech at Patrick Henry College, he contradicted Ledford and his prior statements saying his friend left him to die in the woods. But, there was no basis for his statement. Ledford told the Washington Post that Cawthorn was out after the crash and devoid of memory of the accident. Ledford expressed he dragged Cawthorn from the blazing car and saved his life.
Allegations of Sexual Harassment
When Cawthorn attended Patrick Henry College, he reportedly set a reputation among female members who told the Washington Post and Buzzfeed he sexually harassed them. One of them, a Capitol Hill Republican intern, went public with her claim.
During Cawthorn’s general election campaign, more than 160 members of the Patrick Henry community signed an open letter accusing him of gross misconduct towards our female peers, public misrepresentation of his past, and disorderly conduct that was against the school’s student honor code and admitted academic failings. In addition, he established a reputation for predatory behavior.
Driving With a Revoked License
Last month, he was driving with a revoked license, which holds a punishment of up to 20 days in prison.
Orgies and Cocaine Remark
Last month, there was a question asking Cawthorn about the similarity between real-life and the House of Cards TV show. He ranted about sexual perversion and said that lawmakers invited him to orgies and people who led the stop drug addiction movement had tapped cocaine in front of him.
Republicans were pissed off, and he received a brawny lecturing from House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. McCarthy informed journalists that Cawthorn had recanted his claims, but this remark broke the GOP’s support. Since then, North Carolina Republicans have been executing a bellowing drive to extract Cawthorn from Washington.
Last Friday, Politico published a Cawthorn photo wearing a woman’s lingerie in public, which was not an offense, but it contradicts his public posture on matters of gender.
Cawthorn seemed to start his career in a deep hole of scandal with little hope for success. But, whatever the reason behind this misconduct, he achieved all this at 26 years old.
Written by Janet Grace Ortigas
Sources:
Mother Jones: A Guide to Madison Cawthorn’s Many Scandals
It’s a long list, and growing longer; by Noah Y. Kim
NY Mag: Madison Cawthorn Is Trying to Commit Every Possible Scandal The Republican congressman’s inspiring quest to shoot the moon; by Jonathan Chait
Daily Advent: A Guide to Madison Cawthorn’s Many Scandals
Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Gage Skidmore’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of Patrick McKay’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
