Nude video latest scandal turning Republicans against U.S. Rep. Cawthorn
Reuters. FILE PHOTO: U.S. Representative Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) arrives to the State of the Union address at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC, U.S, March 1, 2022. Saul Loeb/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
By David Morgan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A grainy 28-second video showing a naked young man gyrating against someone in bed amid squeals and laughter was the latest in a string of episodes that has turned Republicans against one of their own: the brash U.S. Representative Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina.
The group that released the video online said it depicted Cawthorn, who did not dispute the claim. The 26-year-old political novice on Thursday slammed the video's release as a hit and blackmail against him and said it showed him joking with a friend years ago.
It followed other episodes that have led powerful Republicans such as Kevin McCarthy, the top Republican in the House of Representatives, to break with him.
These included Cawthorn's claim of being invited to a cocaine-fueled Washington sex orgy by leaders he respected, two attempts to carry a gun onto an airplane and calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy a thug in the midst of a Russian invasion.
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