Madison Cawthorn doubles down on claims of ‘corrupt and unethical’ Washington

North Carolina representative says his comments ‘have been used by the left and the media to disparage my Republican colleagues’

North Carolina Republican Congressman Madison Cawthorn has issued a statement following his controversial comments in which he claimed that he’s been invited to an “orgy” in Washington DC and that he’s seen anti-drug advocates do cocaine.

“Corruption and unethical activities exist in Washington. It’s an indisputable fact. If you don't think that's true, you’ve not witnessed the Swamp,” Mr Cawthorn claimed in a statement issued on Friday.

“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,” he added.

Mr Cawthorn previously told the Warrior Poet Society podcast that “the sexual perversion that goes on in Washington… 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, all of a sudden you get invited to like, ‘well hey, we’re gonna have a kind of sexual get-together at one of our homes, you should come!’ And you realise they’re asking you to come to an orgy,” he said.

“You know, some of the people leading the movement to try and remove addiction in our country, and they watch them doing, you know, a key bump of cocaine right in front of you,” he added.

“I’ve considered for several days how best to address this controversy,” Mr Cawthorn said on Friday. “The culture in Washington is corrupt. Human nature is fallen. Compromising activities occur because when other people can place you in compromising positions, they control you. It’s all about power- but my colleagues and I are fighting that corruption.”

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Minority Whip Steve Scalise met with Mr Cawthorn on Wednesday. While Mr Cawthorn, 26, refused to answer questions from reporters after the meeting, Mr McCarthy, 57, said “he’s lost my trust is gonna have to earn it back. And I laid out everything that I find is unbecoming”.

“This is unacceptable. There’s no evidence to this. He changes what he [says] and that’s not becoming of a Congressman...He did not tell the truth,” he added, alleging that Mr Cawthorn changed his story when confronted by members of Republican House leadership.

Mr McCarthy said Mr Cawthorn “thinks he saw maybe a staffer in a parking garage maybe 100 yards away” doing drugs. He added that Mr Cawthorn told him that “he doesn’t know what cocaine is”.

Mr McCarthy said Mr Cawthorn “very well could be” disciplined for his statements.

Addressing his constituents on Friday, Mr Cawthorn said: “Western North Carolina, you sent me to Washington to change the culture. If you want Washington to operate without accountability, send someone else. If you want someone who will throw the entire DC swamp into a meltdown because I call out corruption – send me back.”

“The left and the media want to use my words to divide the GOP,” he added. “They are terrified of Republicans taking back the House and seeing Leader McCarthy become Speaker McCarthy. Their efforts to divide us will fail. I will not back down to the mob, and I will not let them win. I will continue fighting for many years to come.”