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Madison Cawthorn built his career on falsehoods -- and is using his seat in Congress to push lies: report
February 27, 2021
Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) was the focus of a hart-hitting investigation published by The Washington Post on Saturday.
"Madison Cawthorn was a 21-year-old freshman at a conservative Christian college when he spoke at chapel, testifying about his relationship with God. He talked emotionally about the day a car accident left him partially paralyzed and reliant on a wheelchair," The Post noted. "Cawthorn said a close friend had crashed the car in which he was a passenger and fled the scene, leaving him to die "in a fiery tomb." Cawthorn was 'declared dead,' he said in the 2017 speech at Patrick Henry College. He said he told doctors that he expected to recover and that he would 'be at the Naval Academy by Christmas.'"
<p>"Key parts of Cawthorn's talk, however, were not true. The friend, Bradley Ledford, who has not previously spoken publicly about the chapel speech, said in an interview that Cawthorn's account was false and that he pulled Cawthorn from the wreckage. An accident report obtained by The Washington Post<strong> </strong>said Cawthorn was "incapacitated," not that he was declared dead. Cawthorn himself said in a lawsuit deposition, first reported by the news outlet AVL Watchdog, that he had been rejected by the Naval Academy before the crash," the newspaper noted. "Shortly after the speech, Cawthorn dropped out of the college after a single semester of mostly D's, he said in the deposition, which was taken as part of a court case regarding insurance.<strong> </strong>Later, more than 150 former students signed a letter accusing him of being a sexual predator, which Cawthorn has denied."</p><p>The report came one day after <a href="https://www.rawstory.com/madison-cawthorn-republican/" target="_blank">BuzzFeed News published an exposé on Cawthorn being accused of sexually harassing</a> former classmates.</p><p>The Post noted how Cawthorn is yielding his new power in Congress.</p><p>"He promptly used his newfound fame to push baseless allegations about voting fraud on Twitter in a video viewed 4 million times, which President Donald Trump retweeted, saying, 'Thank you Madison!' Then Cawthorn spoke at the Jan. 6 rally where a mob was incited to storm the U.S. Capitol, again alleging fraud and extolling the crowd's courage in comparison with the 'cowards' in Congress," the newspaper explained. "He returned to the Capitol, where he falsely claimed that insurrectionists had been 'paid by the Democratic machine.'"</p><p>Cawthorn's approach is very Trumpian.</p><p>"The story of Cawthorn's rise is, by any measure, an extraordinary accomplishment at a young age by a man who suffered a horrific injury. But an examination by The Post of how he ascended so quickly shows how even one of the most neophyte elected Republicans is adopting the Trump playbook, making false statements about his background, issuing baseless allegations about voter fraud and demonizing his political opponents," the newspaper noted. </p><p>Read the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/02/27/making-madison-cawthorn-how-falsehoods-helped-propel-career-new-pro-trump-star-far-right/?arc404=true" target="_blank">full report</a>.</p>
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This year's Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) has illustrated Republican fealty to Donald Trump despite the GOP losing both chambers of Congress and the White House on his watch.
"If you watched House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy's Saturday panel discussion at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) after spending four months in a coma, you'd not only think that there was no January 6 insurrection aimed at overthrowing former President Donald Trump's election loss, but that Trump actually won a second term," Axios correspondent Aaron Rupar reported Saturday. "The rest of CPAC has been similar in tone. In fact, despite President Joe Biden's decisive popular vote and Electoral College victory over Trump — and Trump's shameful efforts to overthrow the election during the transition period to a new administration — CPAC 2021 has served as a cultish celebration of the former president. None of the few remaining prominent anti-Trump Republicans were invited to speak, and no criticism of the former president has been brooked."
<p>McCarthy bending the knee may not be enough to satisfy the former reality TV star.</p><p>"Trump is now <a href="https://www.politico.com/newsletters/playbook/2021/02/27/trump-stewing-over-mccarthy-again-ahead-of-big-cpac-speech-491926" target="_blank">reportedly steamed</a> that McCarthy stood by House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) even after Cheney voted for Trump's second impeachment," he explained. "McCarthy in particular, and CPAC speakers in general, have sided against Cheney in this dispute. On Friday, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) claimed during his speech that Cheney would be booed if she showed up at CPAC, and he's not wrong. But that Trump is even considering publicly castigating McCarthy just because he won't work to purge the handful of House Republicans who voted for Trump's impeachment reflects the extent to which the party has devolved into a personality cult — one that's endured even after the leader was defeated."</p>
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c4249b3e2a409431f6162374f2b35a11" id="0522b"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-partner="rebelmouse" data-twitter-tweet-id="1365762314717249536"><div style="margin:1em 0">McCarthy didn't talk much about Trump during his CPAC panel discussion, aside from crediting him for Republicans ga… https://t.co/pOnXtt1ccG</div> — Aaron Rupar (@Aaron Rupar)<a href="https://twitter.com/atrupar/statuses/1365762314717249536">1614458085.0</a></blockquote></div>
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Andrew Cuomo accused of sexual harassment by second former staffer: NYT
February 27, 2021
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has an expanding #MeToo crisis as he continues to be bogged down in a scandal over refusing to report COVID-19 nursing home deaths over fears of prosecution.
"A second former aide to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo is accusing him of sexual harassment, saying that he asked her questions about her sex life, whether she was monogamous in her relationships and if she had ever had sex with older men," Jesse McKinley of The New York Times reported Saturday.
<p>"The aide, Charlotte Bennett, who was an executive assistant and health policy adviser in the Cuomo administration until she left in November, told The New York Times that the governor had harassed her late last spring, during the height of the state's fight against the coronavirus," the newspaper <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/27/nyregion/cuomo-sexual-harassment.html" target="_blank">reported</a>. "Ms. Bennett, 25, said the most unsettling episode occurred on June 5, when she was alone with Mr. Cuomo in his State Capitol office. In a series of interviews this week, she said the governor had asked her numerous questions about her personal life, including whether she thought age made a difference in romantic relationships, and had said that he was open to relationships with women in their 20s — comments she interpreted as clear overtures to a sexual relationship."</p><p>Cuomo told The Times he "never made advances toward Ms. Bennett, nor did I ever intend to act in any way that was inappropriate."</p><p>Bennet described how Cuomo's conduct impacted her.</p><p>"I understood that the governor wanted to sleep with me, and felt horribly uncomfortable and scared," Bennett said. "And was wondering how I was going to get out of it and assumed it was the end of my job."</p>
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