Republican North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple former college classmates, Buzzfeed News reported Friday.
Four women who attended Patrick Henry College, a small Christian liberal arts school in Virginia, with Cawthorn allege that the freshman congressman made sexually-charged comments and touched them inappropriately, according to the article in Buzzfeed News.
He previously denied other allegations to the Daily Caller, comparing the allegations against him to those against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. (RELATED: Madison Cawthorn Claims His Call To ‘Lightly Threaten’ Elected Officials Was Not A Threat Of Violence)
NEW: College classmates of Madison Cawthorn say he harassed women students. BuzzFeed News spoke with more than 30 people, who described and corroborated instances of sexual harassment and misconduct by the now–member of Congress. https://t.co/Kc7xIsNiBF
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) February 26, 2021
Leah Petree, a Capitol Hill intern for a Republican member of Congress, told Buzzfeed News that Cawthorn harassed her to go for a ride in his car, even though she rebuffed him repeatedly. She said he eventually took to parking his car outside her dormitory in an attempt to get her into his car. Cawthorn later called Petree a “little blonde slutty American girl,” she said, according to Buzzfeed, after he demanded that she tell him the types of men that she liked and did not like to date.
Petree’s story was corroborated by another Patrick Henry College student, who told Buzzfeed News that Cawthorn bragged to him about forcing girls to sit in his lap and touching them between their legs.
Petree also accused Micah Bock, Cawthorn’s communications director, of rubbing his erect penis up against her while she slept, Buzzfeed reported.
“These questions were repeatedly asked and answered during the course of the campaign. The voters of Western North Carolina responded to these allegations by giving Madison Cawthorn a 12-point victory over his opponent. Rep. Cawthorn is now busy doing the work he was elected to do including helping our economy recover from the pandemic, creating jobs and opportunity, making health care more affordable, protecting our natural environment and defending life and our Second Amendment rights,” Bock told the Daily Caller in response to a question about the Cawthorn allegations.
Bock told the Daily Caller that the allegations against him were “completely untrue.”
Another accuser, Caitlin Coulter, claimed that Cawthorn asked her questions about a chastity ring she wore while he drove her in his car, Buzzfeed reported. Uncomfortable with his attempts to get her to talk about sex, she refused to answer his questions. Cawthorn eventually became angry, she said, and recklessly drove her back to campus, according to Buzzfeed.
“I remember just being very happy to make it back home safely,” she told Buzzfeed News.
Coulter was one of ten former Patrick Henry College students to sign an open letter denouncing Cawthorn, which she posted on Twitter in October 2020.
I personally experienced Cawthorn’s predatory behavior and sexual harassment, which is why I signed this letter with other alum. Let’s elect candidates who are respectable and conscientious, unlike Madison Cawthorn. NC District 11 can do better. #RejectCawthorn #StandForConsent pic.twitter.com/Xi08Ml6TvI
— Caitlin Brooke (@PureWater95) October 18, 2020
Cawthorn defeated retired Army Col. Morris Davis, a Guantanamo Bay prosecutor, to win the seat formerly held by Mark Meadows. A staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump, he spoke at the Jan. 6 Stop the Steal rally, which immediately preceded the Capitol riot.