Yet another video that apparently depicts embattled Western North Carolina Republican congressman Madison Cawthorn in a compromising situation has surfaced, according to a story first reported last night by The News & Observer.
The story cites the American Muckrakers PAC, better known as firemadison.com, as the source of the video.
A statement on the firemadison.com website says the video was sent to the PAC by a former supporter “who asked to remain anonymous.”
The PAC has mercilessly hounded Cawthorn with ethics complaints, leaked audio from whistleblowers and other complaints since shortly after Cawthorn was elected.
In the video, which looks to have been shot in a hotel room, a man that appears to be Cawthorn is seen in a state of undress grinding on another person while uttering an exaggerated series of grunts and groans. The other person is only seen for a moment, and has not yet been identified.
Others in the room laugh as the not-safe-for-work video continues, until finally someone off camera calls the naked man “Madison” and asks him to stop.
David B. Wheeler, president of the PAC, issued the following statement on the website:
“Madison Cawthorn should resign from Congress today. While his sexual orientation or behavior behind closed doors is no interest whatsoever to us, his actions should have consequences. This video was passed to us by a former supporter and big donor of Rep. Cawthorn that wishes to remain anonymous. Only Madison Cawthorn knows the date, location, names and ages of participants, or whether they are Cawthorn staff. Ask him for any of this information. We do not know those details. We do know Rep. Cawthorn shouldn’t be in Congress regardless of when this video was taken. We don’t have any further comment at this time.”
Cawthorn acknowledged the authenticity of the video in a tweet, but didn’t provide information on where, when or by whom the video was shot.
“A new hit against me just dropped.” Cawthorn wrote. “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.”
North Carolina’s Primary Election will take place on Tuesday, May 17, although in-person early voting is nearly halfway complete. Cawthorn faces a field of seven Republican challengers. If no single candidate gets more than 30% of the vote, a runoff between the top two finishers will take place on Tuesday, July 26.
Six Democrats are also vying for the right to face the Republican nominee in November.
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