Madison Cawthorn offers up shockingly bad explanation for cocaine, orgy remarks

If you thought Madison Cawthorn's (R-N.C.) orgy and cocaine allegations were too outlandish to be true ... it's probably because, well, they were. Womp, womp.
Apparently, when Cawthorn met with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Wednesday (as McCarthy had promised his members he'd do), Cawthorn admitted some of the shocking allegations were exaggerated and incorrect. In return, McCarthy told the freshman lawmaker "he's lost my trust" and "laid out everything I find is unbecoming," per Axios. Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) was also present at the meeting.
Let's rewind for a quick refresher on what happened —
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
During a recent conversation with Jon Lovell of the Warrior Poet Society podcast, Cawthorn was asked whether life in Congress mirrors the political drama House of Cards, to which Cawthorn replied by claiming he had been invited to orgies at the homes of DC insiders and watched leaders in the anti-drug movement do key bumps of cocaine.
Obviously, Cawthorn's fellow Republicans weren't too happy with his claims, and demanded McCarthy speak to the lawmaker to find out who he was referring to.
On Wednesday, all the clarity McCarthy could offer after the sit-down was that Cawthorn "thinks he saw maybe a staffer" doing cocaine "in a parking garage from 100 yards away," per Axios and Politico.
Not a very strong explanation, Cawthorn. To start, how do you know what anyone's doing from 100 yards away? And what about the orgies? Were those in the parking garage too? Please, make it make sense!
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
The response was seemingly good enough for McCarthy, however, because the leader said he'll wait and see how Cawthorn decides to better himself before taking any official action against him, per Axios.
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
5 museum-grade cartoons about Trump's Smithsonian purge
Cartoons Artists take on institutional rebranding, exhibit interpretation, and more
-
Settling the West Bank: a death knell for a Palestine state?
In the Spotlight The reality on the ground is that the annexation of the West Bank is all but a done deal
-
Sudoku medium: August 23, 2025
The Week's daily medium sudoku puzzle
-
Judge: Trump's US attorney in NJ serving unlawfully
Speed Read The appointment of Trump's former personal defense lawyer, Alina Habba, as acting US attorney in New Jersey was ruled 'unlawful'
-
Third judge rejects DOJ's Epstein records request
Speed Read Judge Richard Berman was the third and final federal judge to reject DOJ petitions to unseal Epstein-related grand jury material
-
Texas OKs gerrymander sought by Trump
Speed Read The House approved a new congressional map aimed at flipping Democratic-held seats to Republican control
-
Israel starts Gaza assault, approves West Bank plan
Speed Read Israel forces pushed into the outskirts of Gaza City and Netanyahu's government gave approval for a settlement to cut the occupied Palestinian territory in two
-
Court says labor board's structure unconstitutional
Speed Read The ruling has broad implications for labor rights enforcement in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi
-
Feds seek harsh charges in DC arrests, except for rifles
Speed Read The DOJ said 465 arrests had been made in D.C. since Trump federalized law enforcement there two weeks ago
-
The census: Why Trump wants a new one
Feature Donald Trump is pushing for a 'Trumpified census' that excludes undocumented immigrants
-
The red state push to join the DC occupation
IN THE SPOTLIGHT Republican governors are increasingly eager to volunteer their state's National Guard troops for Trump's ostensibly anti-crime siege of the nation's capital