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- Several GOP senators are backing North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn's primary challenger, Chuck Edwards.
- Cawthorn claimed he had witnessed his Congress colleagues using cocaine and that he was invited to an orgy.
- Sen. Thom Tillis slammed Cawthorn, saying he embarrassed the state with his "juvenile behavior" and "outlandish statements."
Several Republican Party leaders in North Carolina are backing Rep. Madison Cawthorn's primary challenger following the congressman's claims that he had witnessed "sexual perversion" and drug use among his Congress colleagues.
On Thursday, North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis released a strongly worded statement criticizing Cawthorn for falling "well short of the most basic standards Western North Carolina expects from their representatives."
Throwing his weight behind Cawthorn's challenger, Chuck Edwards, Tillis wrote that Edwards would "never embarrass Western North Carolina with a consistent pattern of juvenile behavior, outlandish statements, and untruthfulness."
"The 11th Congressional District deserves a congressman who is fully dedicated to serving their constituents," Tillis wrote.
"Chuck Edwards has proven he's a hardworking conservative leader who delivers conservative results. He'll never give up on his day job in search of celebrity status in Washington DC with no record of results to speak of," Tillis wrote.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported that House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger, two top GOP figures in the North Carolina state legislature, had backed Edwards at a fundraiser on Thursday.
At the event, Moore also told local news outlet WNCN-TV that Cawthorn did not deserve to be elected to Congress.
"If you have clowns in office who aren't serious about what they're doing, you can't get somewhere," Moore said, per the outlet. "I'm just kind of without the words to describe what Congressman Cawthorn is doing and saying. I mean, some of these ridiculous recent comments that continue to build on one another."
Sen. Richard Burr, an outgoing senior GOP senator from North Carolina, also had harsh words for Cawthorn, telling CNN: "On any given day, he's an embarrassment."
Even GOP lawmakers from outside the state have rebuked Cawthorn.
Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon told CNN that Cawthorn's comments were "terrible." Meanwhile, North Dakota Rep. Kelly Armstrong told the outlet that the angel and devil on Cawthorn's shoulders likely took the form of "Lloyd Christmas on one shoulder and Harry Dunne on the other shoulder," referencing the protagonists of the comedy film "Dumb and Dumber."
Cawthorn had stoked the ire of the GOP leadership when he claimed last week that he had witnessed members of DC's elite using cocaine in front of him and had also been invited to orgies. He was later spoken to by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who publicly rebuked Cawthorn, saying the latter had "lost his trust."
In March, Cawthorn sparked controversy when he called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a "thug" and labeled the Ukrainian government "evil." He later doubled down on the comments even after being called an "outlier" by Republican senators.
Despite the criticism hurled at him, Cawthorn has remained defiant.
"The radical left, the establishment, and the media want to take me down. Their attacks have been relentless. I won't stop fighting. I won't bow to the mob," the congressman tweeted on Thursday.
"They want to silence the America First movement. I'm not going anywhere," he added.
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