Madison Cawthorn struggled to form a coherent sentence on CNN over the weekend when he was asked about what inspired him to vote to overturn the 2020 presidential election results earlier this month.
When Pamela Brown pressed the freshman congressman from North Carolina on why he objected to legally-cast votes from Pennsylvania and Arizona, he quickly resorted to spewing off debunked conspiracy theories.
“The things that I was not objecting to the election on behalf of was things like Dominion voting machines changing ballots, or these U-Haul trucks pulling up filled with ballots for Joe Biden as president,” he replied.
“The thing I was objecting for is things like, like I said in the state of Wisconsin, particularly in the town of Madison. There was an appointed official in that town who actually went against the will of the state legislature and created ballot drop boxes, which is basically ballot harvesting that was happening in the parks.”
CNN's Pamela Brown challenged Madison Cawthorn to cite evidence of election fraud to back up his vote against certifying the election results. He had nothing. pic.twitter.com/irBADDOciU
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 24, 2021
When Brown asked Cawthorn for specific verifiable examples of fraud, not debunked conspiracy theories, the young lawmaker found himself at a total loss for words.
“Like I said, that’s not the reason I contested the election,” he squirmed.
“So you wanted to throw out millions of votes without actually seeing any concrete evidence of fraud?” Brown asked. “Cause that’s what you were doing when you were contesting the election.”
After an awkward pause, Cawthorn replied, “I disagree with you on that point.” Then he insisted that he only contested the election to “hold up the Constitution.”
Brown points out the contradiction between Cawthorn saying he has issues with changes to election rules in Wisconsin when his own state of North Carolina made similar changes because of the pandemic.
“I’m not aware of the laws that were changed inside of North Carolina,” he says pic.twitter.com/9E6cWaBZgd
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 24, 2021
Later in the interview, Brown got Cawthorn to finally admit that, OK, OK, there was no evidence of election fraud, the whole thing was an act, and Joe Biden is, indeed, president.
“When I contested to the election, that was within the constitutional guidelines that the framers had set up,” he said. “But after I’ve done that and the electors and the delegates from each state elected Joe Biden as our president, I respect the office.”
“He is my president, and I want to work with him to make sure that we can bring some meaningful change to the American people.”
Afterwards, Cawthorn’s office put out a statement saying that “while it is difficult to quantity the number of fraudulent ballots cast in any election, Representative Cawthorn stands firm in his belief that objecting to the certification of electoral college votes was an important step in safeguarding a free and fair electoral process.”
Here’s Madison Cawthorn getting cornered into admitting that his rationale for voting against accepting the election results was bullshit pic.twitter.com/SU6W7sGpXi
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 24, 2021
Graham Gremore is the Features Editor and a Staff Writer at Queerty. Follow him on Twitter @grahamgremore.
Heywood Jablowme
And then she wheeled him to the high school detention room.
G-Man
Perfect. LOL
Mattster
Wow he was pretty incoherent. He will probably go far in today’s Republican Party.
cuteguy
Why did he go on CNN? Doesn’t he know that a legitimate news network? Doesn’t he know that they give “gotcha” questions based on real facts? He’s supposed to stick to Faux News and their softball questions for Trump’s bootlickers and minions. Just like Lil Marco Rubio.
Mister P
He wanted to show he is part of the new breed of Republicans. Stupider and more fascist.
LumpyPillows
Sure is pretty; pretty dumb. Example of why experience and a little wisdom age can bring should be considered before electing someone.
jcool
i don’t even want to nail him anymore. i’ll still watch his gay porn, but that’s it
michael_totzke
What a little creep …
Cam
If you want to see something really sad, it shows the signatures of the people who signed on, and his signature looks like it was done by a child.
gefrisbo
his poor handwriting is reportedly a function of his disability. the guy is despicable, but his physical ability ought not be held against him.
Cam
@gefrisbo
He has put out multiple photos of himself carrying guns and talking about shooting. So what people are saying is that his disability leaves him having a hard time writing but he’s ok to shoot rifles and bring guns into the U.S capitol???
RandomGuy
She should have questioned him on why he lied about his military career and why he’s such a big fan of Hilter’s work.
GayEGO
Cawthorn is just another Trump crony who believes he can say whatever he wants and we will believe him….NOT!
hotflyer99
He is the direct results of folks not getting out to vote and also not staying on top and being informed of their local politics/candidates . He is a fool that is unfit and certainly unqualified to hold public office. Just another example when you elect a clown expect a circus. It’s just sad that we have lots of people that are out here making minimum wage and slaving not to make ends meet that are 10 times more fit and qualified to serve but in the meantime we have this guy that will be continuing to vote for laws/bills to keep his foot on their necks. Give me the cashier at the fast food restaurant I think we would all be better served.
scotshot
@Cam
Cawthorn’s been rehearsing his penmanship for the new Broadway musical “My Left Foot”.
gefrisbo
also a function of physical disability.
Celtic
Cawthorn is such a lovesick puppy. It’s reported that he uses his wheelchair more as a prop to gain sympathy. If he kept is inept mouth shut and actually tried to use his brain, he might be more entertaining — and, believable. This kid — yes, kid — is in over his head. It says a lot about North Carolina, and none of it is good.
missvamp
you know how he got elected? he’s pretty. people are stupid in his state. it’s that simple.
bgeorge59
He didn’t even pronounce Wisconsin properly.. what a dimwit
Doug
“I have no regrets.” Right.
This guy is so cute, but so stupid.
Karrnal
Byline reporter Graham Gremore misguides his readers by calling out Cawthorne’s “awkward pauses.” These are actually the time lag in sound transmission. Cawthorne looks perfectly calm during them, before beginning his answers. Please, news reporters, don’t add to the hysteria.
Cam
Except you’re lying, he couldn’t answer the question and tried to weasel when she asked where in the Constitution was there anything about drop boxes.
trell
In the word of the almighty & omniescent Billy Butcher…
“…just stop being a c*nt!”
Young Timer
Madison flat out choked. Must have been embarrassing for his parents.
Nothing he says is believable.
He’s probably not even a cripple… I’ll bet if the house is on fire, he’s the first one out the door.
Mehki
She drove him to school on the short bus and left his ass there.
FridM
Kick him out of his chair and make him walk!
Openminded
There should be NO concern how early voter/mail in ballots are “harvested”. The concern should be in making sure only verified registered voters receive a ballot and that they only receive one ballot. After that, how they get back to the election office shouldn’t matter as long as they get back. Dems screamed election fraud when trump took office and now the repubs are screaming the same thing. We really need to do something to remove any doubt of election fraud so that the real issues at hand can be addressed. Of course, that would leave little for the news outlets to spin and report on.
Cam
I don’t recall Democrats trying to vote to decertify an election and keep Obama in office.
But nice try at “Both Sidesing”.
nm4047
Is he not the ‘representative’ for Nth Carolina? If so, why does he get to object to the voting of another state? (clearly partisanship politicking. The US electoral system need total overhaul and a Federal voting commission that actually has power(s), not just a rubber stamp dept.
Kangol2
He’s one of 13 US House members from North Carolina, and represents their 11th District. He’s an imbecilic liar, but if you look at the GOP caucus, he’s got quite a few in it who’d give him a run for his money, including new “stars” like Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene, and damaged goods like Louie Gohmert, Matt Gaetz and Gym Jordan.
ScottOnEarth
The sweetest part is how Pamela Brown just calmly, confidently threw plain facts at him, pointing out just how ridiculous and seditious he was, yet he kept stammering and blubbering his way to complete idiocy.
Topazme
he’s a nazi himbo
nmharleyrider
Too bad he’s such a good looking scumbag. Talk about white entitlement.
Man About Town
Last week Bill Maher said “I’ve thrown up scotch older than this prick.”
startenout
Great work, CNN, for continuing to shed light on hypocrites and outright liars. He sounds just like the uneducated college dropout that he is.
8millionandcounting
As I’ve said a couple hundred times. This puke is in way over his head.
Not to mention he is a pathological liar and dumb as a box of hammers.