Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) said Friday that photos published by Politico showing him wearing women’s lingerie were “goofy vacation photos taken during a game on a cruise.”
The political news site had published the images earlier Friday, noting they were taken in what “appears to be a party setting.” The site juxtaposed the photos with comments the congressman has made about adhering to “traditional values.”
Politico said the pics were given to the outlet by a person formerly close to Cawthorn and his campaign and were confirmed by a second person who also was formerly close to Cawthorn.
However, the website admitted it was still unclear exactly when the photos were taken.
However, anyone expecting this to be a clue to Cawthorn’s earlier claims that Washington insiders have invited him to do cocaine and participate in orgies might be disappointed after the North Carolina Republican’s response to the story.
In a tweet posted after the article went live, Cawthorn said the pictures were just “goofy vacation photos during a game on a cruise” that he says “were taken waaay before I ran for Congress.”
The photos aroused attention on social media, but many people noted that the eyebrow-raising factor wasn’t that Cawthorn partied in lingerie but the hypocrisy suggested by the images.
The conservative congressman has been a foe to the LGBTQ community. He recently gave a speech on the House floor in which he said the definition of a woman is “XX chromosomes, no tallywacker.”
Naturally, Twitter users had thoughts.
