Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) spoke out about a leaked videotape, saying it is “blackmail.”
On Wednesday, CNN reported an opposition group campaigning against Cawthorn released video footage appearing to show him naked in bed.
Cawthorn reacted, saying, “A new hit against me just dropped. Years ago, in this video, I was being crass with a friend, trying to be funny. We were acting foolish, and joking. That’s it.”
He added, “I’m NOT backing down. I told you there would be a drip drip campaign. Blackmail won’t win. We will.”
A new hit against me just dropped.
— Madison Cawthorn (@CawthornforNC) May 4, 2022
Years ago, in this video, I was being crass with a friend, trying to be funny.
We were acting foolish, and joking.
That’s it.
I’m NOT backing down.
I told you there would be a drip drip campaign.
Blackmail won't win. We will.
Cawthorn made headlines in March after he claimed he was invited to an orgy.
During an appearance on the “Warrior Poet Society” podcast with host John Lovell, Cawthorn was asked how accurate the TV show “House of Cards” was when it came to being a member of Congress.
“The sexual perversion that goes on in Washington … being kind of a young guy in Washington, where the average age is probably 60 or 70 — [you] 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. … Then all of a sudden you get invited — ‘We’re going to have a sexual get-together at one of our homes, you should come,'” Cawthorn said.
He added, “What did you just ask me to come to? And then you realize they’re asking you to come to an orgy. … Some of the people leading on the movement to try and remove addiction in our country, and then you watch them do a key bump of cocaine right in front of you. And it’s like, this is wild.”
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy commented on Cawthorn’s remarks to reporters.
“He’s got to turn himself around,” McCarthy said at the time.
He continued, “I just told him he’s lost my trust, and he’s going to have to earn it back. I laid out everything I find that’s unbecoming. … He’s got a lot of members upset. You can’t just make statements out there.”
In March 2021, CNN reported Cawthorn faced allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct by several women.
The outlet noted Cawthorn has repeatedly denied wrong-doing.
He said in a September 2020 statement, “I have never done anything sexually inappropriate in my life.”
