we're learning this afternoon that the
house ethics committee is looking into a
controversial congressman over a couple
of different allegations including his
use of crypto and an improper
relationship we're talking about the guy
you see on your screen right there
congressman madison cawthorne members of
the committee say they voted earlier
this month to launch this subcommittee
this investigation basically to try to
figure out whether he improperly
promoted crypto in which he may have had
what they call an undisclosed financial
interest and then they're also looking
into whether he engaged in an improper
relationship their words with somebody
who worked for him hawthorne's office
just in the last maybe a couple hours
just responding saying they welcomed the
opportunity to prove that the
congressman committed no wrongdoing and
was falsely accused by partisan
adversaries for political gain scott
wong joins us now okay so scott let me
take this in a couple of buckets first
what the actual investigation is crypto
this improper relationship allegation an
ethics complaint filed by a super pac
that was opposing hawthorne who by the
way just to remind people we reported
last week he won his uh excuse me he
lost his primary reelection push he's
not going to be serving in congress next
year
that's exactly right this super pac
american muckrakers threw everything
at madison cawthorne in in a bid to
defeat him in his gop primary and it
looks like they did just that and among
some of these
allegations in the ethics complaint that
they filed with the house ethics
committee
stated that he uh improperly promoted a
cryptocurrency uh while he may have uh
you know had that cryptocurrency in in
his investments uh so the ethics
committee said they're going to take a
hard look at that the the cryptocurrency
is called uh
lgb coin standing for let's go let's
let's go brandon the disparaging term of
course for president joe biden secondly
the ethics committee said they're going
to take a look at whether or not
mr cowthorne had an improper
relationship with a staffer specifically
the allegation takes a look at whether
or not he was providing free housing to
this staffer as well as free travel both
of those things are against house rules
and so
you know
he he will not be in congress come
january but he still remains a member of
congress and so the ethics committee
said they are moving forward with this
investigation is there anything else
you're hearing from kathleen's office
scott i mean we read a piece of their
statement they're basically saying that
they feel this is politically motivated
yeah
that's right they are denying all of
these allegations they're saying they
look forward to uh you know having their
day in front of the ethics committee
where they could uh convince the ethics
committee that there was no wrongdoing
here
also it's important to note uh in
madison cawthorne's instagram post after
he was defeated in his primary last week
he posted that you know the time for
niceties are over and that this is
really the time for quote-unquote dark
magga uh which left a lot of republicans
sort of scratching their head as to what
what exactly he is referring to when he
refers to dark mega but remember madison
catherine is significant because he
remained one of president former
president trump's top
loyalists on capitol hill he also was
one of the election deniers he did not
believe that joe biden
won the election
and so that is why
he's he's made waves up on capitol hill
and and caused you know ire among some
of his fellow republicans
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