Outgoing Rep. Madison Cawthorn (RN.C.) is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee on allegations of financial fraud and improper relationship with a staff member.
Why is this important: The investigation is the culmination of weeks of damaging scandals and media reports that led to the right-wing firebrand losing re-election to a primary GOP challenger.
Driving the news: The ethics committee said in a news release Monday that its members — five Democrats and five Republicans — voted unanimously to launch the investigation.
- Its goal is to determine whether Cawthorn “improperly promoted a cryptocurrency in which he may have had an undisclosed financial interest” and “engaged in an inappropriate relationship” with a staff member.
The context: An opposition-focused super PAC in Cawthorn has filed a complaint with the Congressional Ethics Office alleging that Cawthorn provided housing, travel and loans to a staff member, which they claim was improperly disclosed.
- According to the complaint, staff member Stephen L. Smith accompanied Cawthorn on his honeymoon in Dubai.
- Smith is Cawthorn’s cousin, Cawthorn spokesperson Luke Ball told Insider, calling the complaint “ridiculous.”
The complaint was also filed on a Washington Examiner report that Cawthorn was involved in a cryptocurrency pump-and-dump scheme.
- Cawthorn reportedly commented that the cryptocurrency, Let’s Go Brandon Coin, would “go to the moon” – or skyrocket – in a photo of him and the backer behind the coin, a day before an announcement raised its value skyrocketed.
The other side: “We welcome the opportunity to prove that Congressman Cawthorn committed no wrongdoing and was falsely accused by partisan adversaries for political purposes,” Cawthorn’s chief of staff said, Blake Harp at Axios.
- “This investigation is a formality. Our office is in no way deterred from completing the work that the Patriots from Western North Carolina sent us to Washington to do,” Harp said.
Go further: A separate committee report says its members voted to drop an investigation into misdemeanor charges against Cawthorn for speeding and driving with a revoked license.
- Cawthorn reportedly told the panel that he paid a fine to resolve one of the driving charges and “intends to pay the fines associated with the remaining charges.”
- “The Committee considers that the handling of this case by the local authorities is sufficient in view of the facts,” the report states.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include a statement from Rep. Cawthorn’s chief of staff.
