A North Carolina congressman went on a pro-Trump rant at a non-political meeting before smacking an attendee with a clipboard, according to a witness.
Rep. Chuck Edwards spoke at a conference held by Rotary District 7670 in Asheville on Saturday evening. Edwards, who is from nearby Waynesville, gave a testy town hall in the city back in March, kicking out a war veteran after a sweary rebuke.
The event on Saturday was billed as non-partisan, and Edwards was expected to speak about Hurricane Helene relief and recovery. However, he soon went off script and launched into a pro-Trump diatribe, according to a witness who spoke to The Charlotte Observer.
“He spent 30 minutes basically insulting the Rotarians’ intelligence in his speech,” Guy Gooder, a Rotary member and graphic designer from Franklin, told the publication.
“If you do that for 30 minutes and you walk past somebody, they’re probably going to insult you back.”
Gooder said that while Edwards said he would try to restore funding to the polio eradication effort from the Rotary, he mainly defended Trump’s efforts to slash the federal workforce and his tariff-driven economic policy.
As he left the stage he had to weave through tables of Rotary members to leave the room, Gooder—a Trump critic—added.
While doing so, one of the members addressed him curtly. “The Rotarian basically said that was a load of BS,” Gooder explained.
“Chuck [Edwards] stops and kind of bends over, kind of in-his-face type of stuff,” said Gooder, who added that he was sitting beside the interaction.
“And then it continues from there,” he added.
The Congressman then “hit the guy with his clipboard” while the man was still in his seat. The pair left the room embroiled in an argument, he added.
Police were called. Asheville Police Department confirmed there was a disturbance at the venue.
Edwards released a statement saying he “refused to engage with an intoxicated man that was cursing.”
“He became more belligerent and later called the police,” Edwards’ statement said. “His behavior was embarrassing to the people at the event and was duly noted by the police. To my knowledge, there was no further action taken by police.”
Gooder, however, defended the man—saying he was not belligerent.
He said he knew it was a risk to have a “very partisan politician” speak at a Rotary event as they are staunchly bi-partisan. But Gooder hailed the organizers for apologizing immediately after the flashpoint.
“I was at least impressed by that,” he said. “I thought it was a terrible decision anyway, obviously, to roll the dice like that on a very partisan politician, but if the worst-case scenario happens, at least you get up there and apologize.”
Edwards’ office has been contacted for comment.
In March, Edwards was confronted by angry constituents at a town hall in the same city after trying to put a positive spin on the first few weeks of Trump 2.0.
“And you wonder why folks don’t want to do these town halls,” Edwards commented, spurring various responses. One man asked him: “Are you afraid of Trump?” Another told him: “Stop selling yourself.”
When the subject turned to DOGE cuts at the Department of Veterans Affairs, one man told Edwards bluntly: “Do your job that you were sent there to do: to represent us all.”
A person is removed from the Chuck Edwards town hall“Do your job that you were sent there to do… to represent us all. I’m a veteran and you don’t give a fuck about me” pic.twitter.com/F9Hg6NiElf
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 13, 2025
He added: “You’re lying! I’m a veteran, and you don’t give a f— about me.”
That individual was removed from the venue by law enforcement at Edwards’ direction.
Edwards at one point remarked: “I feel like this is not productive with everybody yelling at me.”
He eventually closed the grating town hall by yelling: “Hey, this has been fun.”
Edwards’ appearance came after the Trump administration reportedly warned all Republican reps to stay away from such events.
Edwards has also copped heat for debunking GOP lies surrounding the response to Hurricane Helene, but then standing side by side with Trump as he repeated those same lies, according to local reports.
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