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A sub-panel of the House Ethics Committee opened an investigation into the Republican legislator, Madison Cawthorn, to determine if he was involved in irregularities by promoting a cryptocurrency and if you had an inappropriate relationship with a member of your staff.
The committee voted unanimously last 11 in May to establish an investigation sub-panel.
“The Investigation Subcommittee shall have jurisdiction to determine whether Representative Madison Cawthorn may have: improperly promoted a cryptocurrency in which he may have had an interest undisclosed financial position and engaged in an inappropriate relationship with a person employed on his congressional staff,” the statement said.
When questioned about the announcement of the investigation, Blake Harp, chief of staff for the North Carolina representative, said he appreciated “the opportunity to show that Congressman Cawthorn committed no crime and was falsely accused by partisan opponents for political gain.”
“This investigation is a formality,” Harp said in a statement. “Our office is not deterred in the least from completing the work that the patriots of western North Carolina sent us to Washington to do.”
Cawthorn lost his re-election bid for his position as representative from North Carolina last week after causing an uproar in his party for claiming that he had been invited to an orgy in Washington and that he had witnessed as the leaders in the effort to end drug addiction, using cocaine.
While campaigning in the North Carolina primary, the legislator faced a flurry of negative headlines, much of it stemming from material published by an opposition group, the American Muckrakers, which sought to overthrow the young Republican, 26 years old.
The group also alleged that Cawthorn had provided free housing, travel and loans to one of his assistants, Stephen Smith, citing publications in social networks in which it was suggested that they had a personal relationship.
It is not known for sure how long the work of the Ethics Committee will take. On the other hand, the subpanel said Monday that it will not investigate the Republican congressman for driving with a revoked license and speeding in North Carolina.
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