últimas notícias

Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) did not appear to back down from controversial comments he made on a podcast last month, saying in a statement released on Friday that he was “calling out corruption.”

“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,” Cawthorn wrote. “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.”

The North Carolina Republican claimed that Democrats and the media wanted to use his controversial remarks to splinter his party.

“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,” he said, without specifying who or what he was referring to.

Cawthorn last month claimed in a podcast that he was invited to an orgy and separately that he saw people do cocaine.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), not one to publicly criticize members of his caucus, issued a rare rebuke to the North Carolina Republican, saying that “he’s lost my trust.”

“This is unacceptable. There’s no evidence to this,” McCarthy said on Wednesday, noting that Cawthorn was unable to provide proof of his claims. “That’s not becoming of a congressman. He did not tell the truth.”

“He’s lost my trust, and he’s gonna have to earn it back,” the House GOP leader added. “You can’t just say, ‘You can’t do this again.’ I mean, he’s got — he’s got a lot of members very upset. He can’t just make statements.”

McCarthy has previously rebuked Cawthorn for also calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a “thug.”