Damning Report Details Claims Against Freshman Congressman

Dozens of ex-college classmates allege sexual misconduct by Madison Cawthorn to BuzzFeed
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 27, 2021 7:30 AM CST
Ex-Classmates Accuse Rep. Cawthorn of Sexual Misconduct
In this undated photo, then-GOP primary candidate Madison Cawthorn participates in a debate in Waynesville, NC.   (Stephen Smith via AP)

Madison Cawthorn spoke at CPAC on Friday, as well as voted by proxy against President Biden's $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill. But there's another reason the 25-year-old North Carolina congressman's name is now in headlines. BuzzFeed News interviewed more than two dozen former classmates, as well as friends and family members who corroborated their stories, who allege Cawthorn was a serial harasser during his one-plus semester at Patrick Henry College, a private Christian school in northern Virginia. The former students noted that Cawthorn's behavior became so notorious on campus that women started warning each other not to go anywhere alone with him, especially in a car. "I realized he was taking me out to the middle of nowhere," says Caitlin Coulter, who went for a drive with him and refused to answer what she said were invasive questions. "I just felt so uncomfortable and nervous and not even something I think at the time I could put a finger on, but just, like, danger warning."

Allegations of misogynistic, predatory, or otherwise aggressive behavior include Cawthorn calling women derogatory names in public; making inappropriate queries about their sexual activity; groping them; making them sit in his lap; and touching and kissing them without their permission. The outlet also talked to Katrina Krulikas, a member of Cawthorn's homeschool community when they were growing up who alleges Cawthorn sexually assaulted her when she was 17 and he was 19. Cawthorn's team responded Friday to the allegations. "These questions were repeatedly asked and answered during the course of the campaign," Cawthorn's communications director said in a statement to Newsweek, which notes similar accusations came out when Cawthorn was running for office. "The voters of Western North Carolina responded to these allegations by giving Madison Cawthorn a 12-point victory over his opponent." More from BuzzFeed here. (More Madison Cawthorn stories.)

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