Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) admitted suggestions that his colleagues have done cocaine and invited him to orgies were "exaggerated" in a tense meeting with Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the House GOP leader told Axios.
Driving the news: McCarthy says he may take further action to condemn Cawthorn over his "unacceptable" remarks, which set off a firestorm within the House Republican conference.
What he's saying: "There's a lot of different things that can happen," McCarthy told Axios and other reporters.
- "I just told him he's lost my trust, he's gonna have to earn it back, and I laid out everything I find is unbecoming. And, you can't just say 'You can't do this again.' I mean, he's, he's got a lot of members very upset."
McCarthy said Cawthorn conceded some of his remarks were untrue and "exaggerated."
- "In the interview, he claims he watched people do cocaine. Then when he comes in he tells me, he says he thinks he saw maybe a staffer in a parking garage from 100 yards away," McCarthy said.
- "It's just frustrating. There's no evidence behind his statements. And when I sit down with him ... I told him you can't make statements like that, as a member of Congress, that affects everybody else and the country as a whole."
- A spokesman for Cawthorn did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The backdrop: Cawthorn, 26, said he had experienced “sexual perversion” while in Washington during an interview with John Lovell for the "Warrior Poet Society" podcast....
- Lovell had asked Cawthorn whether "House of Cards" was a