A line has been crossed — so says House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) after getting Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) to confess that those cocaine and orgy allegations he lobbed against his colleagues over the weekend were, in fact, overblown.
Cawthorn apparently blew the “trust” he had with McCarthy when the freshman congressman suggested there was a groundswell of cocaine use and sex party invites coming from his colleagues in Congress — amusing accusations that Cawthorn reportedly walked back during a one-on-one meeting with McCarthy on Wednesday.
During this private chat, McCarthy reportedly scolded Cawthorn for having “lost my trust” over his salacious remarks, which McCarthy characterized as “not becoming” of a member of Congress, according to Politico.
McCarthy reportedly warned Cawthorn that he had crossed a line, which could lead to his ousting from committees if he doesn’t take certain steps to turn himself around.
“There’s a lot of different things that can happen. But I just told him he’s lost my trust. He’s going to have to earn it back,” McCarthy said when pressed on whether Cawthorn could face consequences for his wild allegations against his colleagues, according to Politico. “I mean, he’s got a lot of members very upset.”
House Republicans were reportedly so enraged at Cawthorn’s allegations that they called on him to name names to back up his recent accusations that he’s witnessed members of Congress doing cocaine and suggested that his colleagues had invited him to sex parties. McCarthy said that in private, Cawthorn described lawmakers’ supposed wrongdoings much differently than he did during his appearance on the “Warrior Poet Society” podcast last weekend.
According to Politico, Cawthorn admitted to McCarthy that he had mistaken “a staffer in a parking garage maybe 100 yards away,” who he thought was doing blow, for a lawmaker. Cawthorn also reportedly told McCarthy that “he doesn’t know what cocaine is.”
“It is just frustrating. There is no evidence behind his statements,” McCarthy said, according to Politico.
Their private conversation reportedly involved McCarthy taking on the role of a life coach for Cawthorn, telling the freshman congressman that there are “certain things” that he needs to clean up in his professional and personal life.
McCarthy also didn’t rule out more meetings with Cawthorn, saying there “very well could be” more talks with him as GOP leaders seethe over the lewd accusations.
“You can’t make statements like that as a member of Congress, it affects everybody else and the country as a whole,” McCarthy said, according to Politico.
McCarthy’s meeting with Cawthorn on Wednesday comes a day after the freshman congressman’s colleagues on the Hill fumed over and denied Cawthorn’s suggestion that Congress is, essentially a drug den of cocaine use.
Cawthorn began facing backlash from his GOP colleagues after he suggested that Congress is anything but a haven of pious individuals like himself — claiming some of his colleagues allegedly invited him to participate in orgies and claiming he’s seen lawmakers do a bunch a blow right before his eyes.
“I look at all these people, a lot of them that I’ve looked up to through my life, I’ve always paid attention to politics,” Cawthorn said, when asked whether the Netflix TV drama “House of Cards” — whose main character is a corrupt congressman with an elaborate plan to rise to power — paints a realistic portrayal of the D.C. political scene.. “Then all of the sudden you get invited to, ‘Well hey, we’re going to have kind of a sexual get together at one of our homes, you should come.’”
“I’m like, ‘What did you just ask me to come to do? And then you realize they are asking you to come to an orgy,” Cawthorn continued, before alleging that lawmakers who advocate for fighting against addiction have done “key bumps” of cocaine in front of him.
Multiple Republicans also reportedly vented their frustration with Cawthorn during a closed-door House GOP conference meeting on Tuesday. Rep. Steve Womack (R-AR), who was among the Republican lawmakers at the meeting offended by Cawthorn’s off the cuff comments, quipped that lawmakers are too boring and old to throw a bacchanal like that in the first place.
