According to WLOS, outgoing Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) is being sued by his own attorneys for a nearly $200,000 unpaid legal bill.
"The Bopp Law Firm said the outgoing congressman failed to pay up in a lawsuit challenging his qualifications to seek re-election," said the report. "Earlier this year, Cawthorn sued North Carolina to stop the State Board of Elections from considering removing the U.S. representative's name from the ballot for reelection in North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District."
The challenge being considered by the State Board of Elections argued that Cawthorn qualified as an "insurrectionist" under the 14th Amendment for supporting efforts to block the certification of President Joe Biden, and was thus ineligible to be re-elected. That challenge was blocked by a federal district judge in March, but a federal appeals court reversed that decision and ordered the district judge to reconsider. The case became moot when Cawthorn went on to lose his primary against state Sen. Chuck Edwards.
Cawthorn, a far-right lawmaker who defeated former President Donald Trump's endorsed nominee in the 2020 primary for a western congressional district in North Carolina, was one of the youngest members of Congress when elected. He swiftly alienated his own party with a series of antics, including an interview in which he claimed, with no evidence, that large numbers of Republican lawmakers attend drug-fueled sex parties, being caught bringing a gun through airport security multiple times, and repeatedly changing which district he would be running for re-election in, angering Republicans who were pushed out of the race as a result.
Ultimately, Republicans themselves ran a smear campaign against Cawthorn and key GOP leaders in North Carolina endorsed Edwards for the nomination instead, resulting in his defeat.
On his way out of office, Cawthorn is also being fined by the House Ethics Committee for a scheme in which he improperly used his office to promote an anti-President Joe Biden themed cryptocurrency in which he held a financial stake.
