Radar Online
Republican Representative Madison Cawthorn is in hot water with his own constituents after it was revealed the young politician spent upwards of $5,000 in what he claims was “legislative planning food and beverage” while at a luxurious North Carolina hotel over the summer.
In a surprising development that has left North Carolina citizens outraged, the 26-year-old representative reportedly spent $2,950 on August 9 while residing at Skylaranna – an opulent getaway resort in Cawthorn's hometown of Hendersonville.
That is the bombshell revelation from a recent Washington Examiner report that obtained the North Carolina representative's expense reports and analyzed the amount of money spent using funds from Cawthorn's Members' Representational Allowance, an allowance authorized to Cawthorn for what should only be used for official and representational duties.
Making the Examiner's report even more stirring is the fact that Cawthorn billed taxpayers in his district upwards of $2,000 that very same week for “food and beverages” from establishments like Chick-fil-A, Bojangles chicken, Joey's NY Bagels, as well as a number of non-detailed payments to the politician's government credit card.
The grand total for the “legislative planning food and beverage” expenses added up to just under $5,000, causing many of citizens Cawthorn represents to question what exactly was going on that week in August and if the expenses were professional – as Cawthorn claims – or actually personal and picked up by the taxpayers.
Furthermore, in just another shocking development to the story, while Cawthorn was spending thousands of dollars in taxpayer money he also took the time to write a tweet complaining about the Democrats and how they “love wasting” our “hard-earned tax dollars.”
“Democratic politicians certainly love wasting your hard-earned tax dollars while forcing your businesses to shut down,” he tweeted while reportedly relaxing at the luxurious North Carolina resort.
Following the backlash for the recently analyzed expense report from early August, a spokesperson speaking on behalf of Cawthorn released a statement reiterating the claim that the expenses were used for a “district retreat.”
“Our district retreat occurred on those dates; those expenses were for the district and D.C. staff on the retreat,” Cawthorn's spokesperson, Luke Ball, told the outlet. “Nearly every office on Capitol Hill has a district retreat and a budget specifically designated for one.”
This is just the latest controversy surrounding Cawthorn who, just weeks ago, was forced to backtrack on claims he made suggesting that he was once invited to an orgy at a fellow congressman's home.
“The sexual perversion that goes on in Washington…being kind of a young guy in Washington where the average age is probably 60 or 70, I look at all these people – a lot of them who I've looked up to throughout my life…then all of a sudden you get invited to like, ‘well hey we're going to have kind of a sexual get together at one of our homes. You should come,' like, what did you just ask me to come to?” Cawthorn claimed last month.
“And then you realize they're asking you to come to an orgy,” he added, before admitting he had exaggerated his claims after mounting backlash from House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy and other members of Congress.
