Madison Cawthorn Lied About Crash That Partially Paralyzed Him, Pal Says
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Read full articleMary Papenfuss·Trends Reporter, HuffPost March 1, 2021, 8:38 AM·3 min read
A former close friend of right-wing Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) told The Washington Post the lawmaker lied about a car wreck that partially paralyzed him.
Cawthorn's account of the 2014 wreck — which he presented publicly in the chapel of his Christian college in Virginia three years later — was that a close friend had crashed the car in which he was a passenger, leaving him to die "in a fiery tomb," the Post reported over the weekend.
But the friend, Bradley Ledford, told the newspaper in his first public comments about the crash that he pulled Cawthorn from the wreckage.
"It hurt very badly that he would say something as false as that," Ledford told the paper. "That is not at all what happened. I pulled him out of the car the second that I was able to get out of the car."
That was just one element of a story rich with lies, the Post reported. Cawthorn claimed he was "declared dead" after the wreck. He wasn't. The police report noted he was "incapacitated." Cawthorn said he was preparing before the crash to start studies at the U.S. Naval Academy ― a boast that he eventually turned into a campaign ad. But the news outlet AVL Watchdog reported in August that Cawthorn had been rejected by the Naval Academy before the crash.
Cawthorn, now 25, exploited his tale of his crash at age 18 for his successful 2020 House campaign. He's now the youngest House representative.
He has become one of the most vocal peddlers of the claim that the presidential election was fraudulently stolen from Donald Trump, another lie. Yet in a stunning confession last month, he admitted he has no evidence of election fraud. "I think I would say the election was not fraudulent," Cawthorn said on CNN.
As for Cawthorn's version of the car crash, "that statement he made was false," Ledford told the Post.
Cawthorn has used a wheelchair since the crash. He drives a specially equipped car that has been linked to sexual misconduct accusations. More than 150 former students at his college signed a letter late last year accusing him of "sexually predatory behavior," which Cawthorn has denied.
BuzzFeed News talked with more than three dozen people who described allegations of sexual misconduct while Cawthorn was at Patrick Henry College. Four women told BuzzFeed that Cawthorn was aggressive, misogynistic or predatory toward them. Cawthorn called them derogatory names in public, asked inappropriate questions about their sex lives, kissed and touched them without their consent, they told reporters. Many of the aggressive encounters occurred during what Cawthorn liked to call "fun drives" in his car, according to BuzzFeed.
Cawthorn did not immediately respond to a request for comment from HuffPost. Neither he nor his spokesperson responded to The Washington Post.
Cawthorn's communications director, Micah Bock, referred BuzzFeed News to remarks he made at a campaign debate in which Cawthorn said: "I have never done anything sexually inappropriate in my life."
Tags
Who is online
457 visitors
Not surprisingly, Cawthorn is an up and coming and vocal part of the next generation of trumpsters.
... a lying POS republican, how very shocking ...
This guy is full of lies. The wapo article was very eye opening.
He is a complete scumbag.
His saying that his friend left him to die in the car wreckage is particularly low. Isnt this guy supposed to be a Christian ?
There was another article about him sexually harassing women.
If I remember the wapo article correctly, he also lied about having a PHD.
Everything he has said or said he accomplished is a complete fabrication.
He needs to be roasted to hell and back.
But those people voted for him. I think his worst lie is that his Naval career was cut short by the accident when he was rejected by the Naval Academy
This piece of shit couldn't tell the truth to save his life.
Yet he can lie about someone that did save his life..
he learned that in xtian college.
He sure is the perfect MAGA.
No wonder he admires Trump so much.
There is just more and more about this scum...
From the Charlotte Observer,
This is a particularly scummy lie...
So he isn't even interested in legislating...
Let's see, it is a tie I think between him and Green for biggest piece of shit elected to congress last election. Though I think he might edge her out.
When he won his election, Cawthorn tweeted, “Cry more, lib.”
What else needs to be said? This guy is a total jerk and unworthy of any respect whatsoever.
This would be hilarious if it wasn't true. Sadly it is...
He mentions him at the five minute mark.
He just becomes more and more of a scum. I honestly don't think he can sink any lower.
Cawthorn, a GOPER in a wheel chair, proudly espousing the party he inhabits that will, if given the opportunity, take away or at least restrict the benefits given to him.
On a different vein, Cawthorn reminds me of an American version of Germany's Heinrich Heydrich.