Rep. Madison Cawthorn's GOP North Carolina colleague Sen. Thom Tillis called the recent leaks starring the congressman 'absurd to embarrassing,' adding that he will be 'disappointed for his constituents' if Cawthorn wins his primary.
'That's why I'm working hard to avoid that outcome,' Tillis told CNN Thursday.
In late March, Tillis endorsed Cawthorn's rival in the western North Carolina district, GOP state Sen. Chuck Edwards, and a super PAC associated with the senator spent $300,000 on ads accusing Cawthorn of telling 'lies for the limelight.'
The most recent leak was a video clip of a nude Cawthorn girating on top of a man, while on Thursday DailyMail.com released a video clip of the congressman getting his crotch grabbed by his scheduler.
Cawthorn's primary is May 17.
Rep. Madison Cawthorn's (left) GOP North Carolina colleague Sen. Thom Tillis (right) called the recent leaks starring the congressman 'absurd to embarrassing,' adding that he will be 'disappointed for his constituents' if Cawthorn wins his primary.
On Wednesday, Cawthorn said he was being made out to be 'some sort of drag queen' in a lengthy video lashing out at negative press against him.
The North Carolina Republican has already racked up a lengthy rap sheet of scandals - after denying multiple sexual assault allegations against him during the first campaign - while also facing a tough re-election bid that's been opposed by members of his own party.
He invoked the ire of his party earlier this year when he claimed to have been invited to cocaine-fueled orgies with senior colleagues - even sparking a public rebuke by House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy.
Since then an apparent sex tape, improper relations with a staffer, and multiple run-ins with law enforcement are just a few of the headlines the 26-year-old lawmaker has dealt with in the last few months of his first term in Congress.
Cawthorn dismissed the slew of bombshells as a coordinated 'drip campaign' in a 'blackmail plot' to prevent him from keeping his seat in November's midterms.
Voters head to the polls on May 17 for the crowded eight-way GOP primary race in the deep-red 11th Congressional District. And despite clinching marquee GOP endorsements like those of Donald Trump and the National Rifle Association, recent polls show that mounting scandals could be taking a toll on his race.
Veteran GOP strategist Doug Heye told DailyMail.com that Cawthorn 'has a tough primary, and for only self-created reasons.'
Asked about if any particular scandal would trip his campaign up the most, Heye replied: 'It’s all of it, and those all speak to different audiences.' However he noted that should Cawthorn win his primary, he's likely to sail to victory given Republicans' dominance in the district.
Cawthorn does still enjoy a double-digit lead over his top rival, North Carolina state Senator Chuck Edwards, according to recent polling. However his lead appears to have dropped off from 48 percent to 38 while Edwards' support has climbed by seven points
He's also on the receiving end of a lawsuit trying to keep him off of North Carolina's midterm ballot over his links to the January 6 Capitol riot.
Edwards is endorsed by North Carolina Senator Tom Tillis, a top critic of Cawthorn's in Congress. A fundraising group linked to Tillis launched attack ads on Thursday over Cawthorn infamously calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a 'thug.'
Below is a look at the latest negative press that's hit the congressman.
Cawthorn says he was 'being crass with a friend' in video of his nude thrusting
A short video clip appearing to show the North Carolina Republican simulating a sex act with another person was circulated on Twitter on Wednesday night.
The clip features a seemingly naked Cawthorn shrieking and grunting as he thrusts against an unknown man's face. Another person -- presumably whoever is recording -- can be heard telling Cawthorn to 'stick it in his face.'
'Fire Madison Cawthorn' president David Wheeler said in a statement that the video was 'passed to us by a former supporter' without naming who it was.
Cawthorn responded to the video soon after it was posted, calling it a 'new hit.'
'Years ago, in this video, I was being crass with a friend, trying to be funny. We were acting foolish, and joking. That's it,' he wrote on Twitter.
'I'm NOT backing down. I told you there would be a drip drip campaign. Blackmail won't win. We will.'
GOP strategist Heye told DailyMail.com that images and videos like that one are 'anathema' to Evangelical voters -- a key Republican demographic.
The latest Cawthorn scandal involved a video clip appearing to show the congressman naked and thrusting at an unknown male
Ex-staffer says Cawthorn ran an alcohol-filled office overrun with pets in leaked audio
'Fire Madison Cawthorn' was previously behind a leaked call between Wheeler and a former caseworker in Cawthorn's office who said she intended to bring a lawsuit against him for unfair workplace practices.
The staffer, Lisa Wiggins, claimed Cawthorn's office did not let her take time off when her husband had a heart attack and her uncle died within the same week.
She was fired a short while later.
Without invoking Cawthorn's name, Wiggins said, 'As far as the candidate himself, I mean, he’s just a bad person.
'He’s a habitual liar and he’s going to say and do anything he can to your face but behind your back he’s completely opposite,' Wiggins claimed.
Cawthorn's Hendersonville, North Carolina office allegedly has 'more liquor bottles than they do water bottles' and even had animals like puppies and kittens running around.
'He’s got a litter box in there, for Heaven's sakes,' Wiggins said.
She also said he closed all of his district offices but one. And rather than informing constituents of the change, he allegedly uses call-forwarding to channel all calls to Hendersonville.
Wiggins said she knew that was true because she 'drove and closed them all.'
'He didn’t have enough caseworkers to man them. He didn’t care, he doesn’t care about his constituents. He does not care,' she said.
Cawthorn denied the accusations in a Wednesday video, stating 'nothing could be further from the truth.'
That call was first reported by Smoky Mountain News.
Wiggins suggested on the call multiple times that she has 'a lot of good stories' about Cawthorn but was hesitant about providing them over the phone.
'A lot of it’s the partying and the drinking,' she said of the information she had. 'I mean drinking like crazy, partying.'
Crotch-grabbing video spurs ethics investigation into Cawthorn's relationship with his cousin
Another leaked clip of Cawthorn's past behavior is at the heart of an ethics complaint into whether the 26-year-old congressman has an improper relationship with a member of his staff.
The aide is Cawthorn's scheduler Stephen Smith, who the lawmaker said is his cousin. Smith being a distant cousin of Cawthorn's, however, means he can be on the Republican's Congressional staff without running afoul of nepotism laws that explicitly ban federal lawmakers from hiring 11 specific types of relatives.
The DailyMail.com-obtained clip shows Cawthorn in the driver's seat of a car, saying in an unspecified accent: ''I feel the passion and desire and would like to see a naked body beneath my hands.'
Smith, apparently filming, turns the lens onto himself to reply 'Me too.'
The camera then shows Smith reaching for Cawthorn's crotch as the lawmaker laughs.
But the video is just one facet of Cawthorn's relationship with Smith that has concerned House ethicists.
An earlier video first reported by DailyMail.com shows Cawthorn talking about wanting to 'see a naked body beneath my hands' before his staffer and distant cousin Stephen Smith puts his hand on Cawthorn's crotch
A Venmo payment history between Smith and Cawthorn, attached to the ethics filing and dating from June 2018 is littered with suggestive messages in the form of notes attached to the payments. One payment made by Cawthorn to Smith and dated June 17, 2018, reads, 'Getting naked for me in Sweden'
Allegations also involve lavish gifts and generous loans being given to Smith, including Cawthorn providing him with undeclared free travel and housing.
The complaint claims that Smith lives with Cawthorn and even accompanied him on his April 2021 honeymoon in Dubai with the lawmaker's now-ex-wife.
Screenshots of racy messages and images of the pair have fueled questions about the nature of their relationship. June 2018 Venmo payments between them include captions like 'Getting naked for me in Sweden' and 'The quickie at the airport.'
Cawthorn appeared to be responding to the video in comments attacking DailyMail.com on Wednesday.
'This video is just stupid locker room talk between two cousins that grew up like brothers, taken long before I served in Congress. And my cousin Stephen that they're attacking is my ADA. He's family and he's my best friend,' he says.
'The article published in the tabloid [DailyMail.com] didn't even bother to fact check any of this or send the video to my office before they ran this with misinformation. The media lies. It shouldn't surprise any of us.'
DailyMail.com's article did in fact note that Cawthorn's press secretary said the pair were cousins when reached for comment.
Additional reporting by Laura Collins
Footage obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com shows Rep. Madison Cawthorn (left), 26, in a car with his close aide and staffer Stephen Smith, 23 (right)
Cawthorn seen in lingerie in photos from cruise
Late last month Politico published exclusive photos showing the North Carolina Republican dressed in women's lingerie, which Cawthorn later ascribed to a 'game on a cruise.'
The images are a stark contrast to the hyper-masculine persona Cawthorn has sought to cultivate in Congress, once stating in a September 2020 podcast that he was 'raised on proverbs and pushups.'
He complained in March 2021: 'I think that we have bred a generation of soft men and that generation has created a lot of problems in our society and our culture.'
It's unclear when the photos were taken. The congressman appears to be sitting in a wheelchair, meaning they would likely have come some time after the 2014 car accident that paralyzed him from the waist down.
'I guess the left thinks goofy vacation photos during a game on a cruise (taken waaay before I ran for Congress) is going to somehow hurt me?' the lawmaker tweeted on April 22.
'They're running out of things to throw at me...'
The photos, obtained by Politico and look to make even the most devoted partiers blush, show the 26-year-old Republican with a vacant look in his eyes, wearing women's hoop earrings and a woman's necklace along with a bra and lingerie set
In the same Wednesday video featuring Cawthorn bashing DailyMail.com, he also appears to take aim at Politico for publishing the images.
'This article is pushing some kind of ludicrous narrative that I’m some sort of drag queen on the side, aside from being a congressman,' the lawmaker said.
'And really, this is just poor journalism, and I’m not surprised. It is Politico after all -- not exactly the same journalistic standards as Fox or Newsmax.'
Senator Tillis calls for Cawthorn insider trading probe over alleged cryptocurrency scheme
Tillis, among Cawthorn's most prominent critics, demanded a Congressional inquiry into whether the young lawmaker violated insider trading laws after an explosive report linked Cawthorn to a cryptocurrency pump-and-dump scheme.
The Washington Examiner published a report suggesting Cawthorn could have been linked to a financial scheme involving cryptocurrency 'Let's Go Brandon.'
He had written on a December 29 Instagram post of him with 'Let's Go Brandon' cryptocurrency leader James Koutoulas, 'LGB legends. ... Tomorrow we go to the moon!'
The next day, NASCAR driver Brandon Brown announced the cryptocurrency was his new sponsor and the coin's value shot up 75 percent. Cawthorn has previously stated that he's an owner of the currency.
'Insider trading by a member of Congress is a serious betrayal of their oath, and Congressman Cawthorn owes North Carolinians an explanation,' Tillis wrote on Twitter that week.
'There needs to be a thorough and bipartisan inquiry into the matter by the House Ethics Committee.'
Cawthorn seemed to take aim at Tillis in yet another video after the senator's call for an investigation, disparaging the senior lawmaker as a 'Republican In Name Only.'
'North Carolina, we have the North Carolina
