Politics & Government
Watchdog files ethics complaint against Rep. Cawthorn over Capitol riot
A government watchdog group is seeking an ethics investigation that could lead to the expulsion of newly elected U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, arguing that he helped spur the riot at the Capitol that caused the death of a police officer and four others, and broke a federal regulation and a local law that bar firearms in the building.
The Campaign for Accountability filed an ethics complaint Friday against Cawthorn, a Henderson County Republican who represents the 11th District, and two Republican Arizona congressmen. Cawthorn, 25, is the youngest person elected to Congress in modern times.
“Government officials are not above the law,” said Michelle Kuppersmith, executive director of the Campaign for Accountability in Washington, D.C., in an emailed statement. “If the people Rep. Cawthorn encouraged to illegally enter the Capitol can be prosecuted for carrying a firearm, so can the congressman. Moreover, no elected official should ever use their platform to instigate the subversion of our democratic process.”
The watchdog’s complaint also asks the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate Arizona Reps. Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs for inciting a riot to thwart Congress’ role in certifying Joe Biden’s victory over incumbent Donald Trump. The complaint focuses on Gosar and Biggs’s interactions with a right-wing activist who claimed that they and U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, an Alabama Republican, plotted the insurrection with him.
Campaign for Accountability filed an ethics complaint against Brooks on Jan. 11. It says it investigates people and organizations who may have violated regulations at the state and national level, but so far the officials it has filed complaints against have all been Republicans, including N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore.
The News & Observer emailed copies of the complaint to representatives for the three congressmen and contacted Cawthorn’s spokesman, Micah Bock, by phone Friday morning. Bock referred to previous statements Cawthorn made criticizing those who took part in the riot. The other congressmen had not responded to the complaint.
As evidence to support its claims, the watchdog group cited statements in Cawthorn’s speeches at two events held to drum up support for Trump’s false claims that the election was stolen. Election officials and judges in five closely contested states that Trump lost said he had failed to show election fraud was behind Biden’s victories.
As the evidence mounted against Trump’s claims, Cawthorn continued to support them. On Dec. 21, Cawthorn told a crowd at a conference held by the young conservative group Turning Point USA that the election had been stolen.
“Call your congressman and feel free, you can lightly threaten them and say, ‘You know what, if you don’t start supporting election integrity, I’m coming after you, Madison Cawthorn is coming after you, everybody’s coming after you,’” Cawthorn told the group.
Shortly before the riot, Cawthorn spoke at the “Save America March” that brought thousands of angry Trump supporters to the Capitol. Calling his colleagues “cowards,” he encouraged the crowd to reject the election results, the nonprofit’s complaint said.
“This crowd has some fight in it,” Cawthorn shouted. “I am so thankful that each and every single one of you would come. . . . And I will tell you, the courage that I see in this crowd is not represented on that hill.
“But my friends, bear in mind there is a significant portion of our party that says we should just sit idly by and sit on our hands. They have no backbone. . . . Do we love Donald Trump? But my friends, we’re not doing this just for Donald Trump, we are doing this for the Constitution, our Constitution was violated.”
Federal law punishes anyone who “incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto,” with a fine and as much as 10 years in prison. A conviction also bars one from holding political office. Those convicted of conspiring to overthrow the government face a fine and up to 20 years in prison.
A day after the riot, Cawthorn gave an interview to the Waynesville-based Smoky Mountain News. He called the rioters “a disgusting and pathetic group of people,” and said Trump’s claims had fueled their actions. He denied that his speeches played a role in triggering the riot.
“I don’t necessarily think it did because I think what I was doing was saying, ‘Although most Republicans are not going to fight for you, you do have someone who’s defending you and I am fighting for you within the Capitol right now,’” Cawthorn told the News. “The main purpose of that was to say that the reason you elect representatives like me is so that you don’t have to go take things into your own hands.”
Cawthorn told the News something else that triggered the second part of the complaint against him: He was armed when rioters stormed the Capitol.
Noting that there were no Capitol Police with him as he and two other congressmen fled the House chamber, he told the News: “Fortunately, I was armed, so we would have been able to protect ourselves.”
When police and National Guard members cleared the rioters and Congress went back into session, Cawthorn was one of 139 House members and eight senators who voted to object to certification of election results in at least one state, The Washington Post reported. Cawthorn was one of seven North Carolina Republicans who voted to object.
Federal regulations prohibit firearms on the House floor. In recent weeks two newly elected congresswomen have pushed for the right to carry handguns on Capitol Hill. District of Columbia criminal codes also prohibit firearms in the Capitol Building and grounds. After the Jan. 6 attack, the House of Representatives installed metal detectors outside the chamber, and even members must use them.
The complaint asks the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate. If it finds credible evidence to substantiate the claims, it could recommend that the House Ethics Committee start proceedings to expel the three members.
The last member to be expelled from Congress was in 2002 — Rep. Jim Traficant, an Ohio Democrat who had been convicted of bribery.
Cawthorn’s actions leading up to the riot have drawn scorn from both sides of the aisle. A Change.org petition calling for his resignation has collected roughly 75,000 signatures.
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