- Kevin McCarthy publicly rebuked Republican Rep. Madison Cawthorn over his comments about cocaine and orgies in Washington.
- This is the second time in recent weeks that the top House Republican has admonished his freshman colleague.
- Cawthorn suggested on a podcast last week that he observed a prominent person doing cocaine and other top officials propositioned him for sex.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy rebuked Rep. Madison Cawthorn on Wednesday for suggesting that DC elites had propositioned him to join an orgy and that another prominent official had used cocaine in front of him, the latest condemnation of the North Carolina Republican from the party's top leadership.
"I just told him he's lost my trust, he's gonna have to earn it back," McCarthy told reporters, per Axios' Alayna Treene. "And I laid out to him everything that I find is unbecoming."
McCarthy and House Minority Whip Steve Scalise met privately for roughly 30 minutes with Cawthorn on Wednesday, Politico reported.
The top House Republican also told reporters that Cawthorn admitted that he had exaggerated some of his claims about orgies and cocaine use.
"The Constitution gives you the age when you can serve in Congress," McCarthy told reporters. "But when you're in Congress, you should respect the institution and you should focus on the work that you should do."
Cawthorn said on a podcast on Friday that he had witnessed "sexual perversion" and illegal drug use in Washington.
"I look at a lot of these people, a lot of them that I've looked up to through my life — I've always paid attention to politics — guys, that, then all of a sudden you get invited to, 'Oh, hey, we're going to have a sexual get-together at one of our homes, you should come," Cawthorn told "Warrior Poet Society," when asked about how realistic Netflix's "House of Cards" is compared to real life in Washington.
McCarthy previously rebuked him on March 18 after Cawthorn called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a "thug" and suggested that Ukraine's government is "incredibly evil."
"Madison is wrong," McCarthy told reporters when asked about the remarks. "If there's any thug in this world, it's Putin." At the time, McCarthy said he would still support Cawthorn's reelection.
Despite just being a freshman lawmaker, Cawthorn has courted controversy from virtually the beginning of his time in Washington. At just 26 years old, he was also one of the youngest elected congressmen in decades.
Cawthorn spoke at the January 6, 2021, rally that preceded the Capitol insurrection, telling attendees "this crowd has some fight in it." He has since stood by his speech and his later objection to the certification of Arizona and Pennslyvania's election results, votes that occurred both before and after the insurrection. Before he was even elected, Cawthorn faced multiple sexual misconduct allegations for allegedly harassing women while attending Patrick Henry College. He has denied those allegations. His campaign was also dogged by it coming to light that Cawthorn had visited Adolph Hitler's vacation home. Cawthorn wrote in 2017 that visiting Eagle's Nest was a "bucket list" item while also calling the Nazi leader a "supreme evil."
After winning his election but before being sworn in, Cawthorn posted a tweet mocking liberals.
"Cry more, lib," he wrote on Twitter on November 3. Cawthorn later told CNN that he regretted the message.
A spokesperson for Cawthorn has not responded to Insider's previous requests for comment.