Madison Cawthorn’s political comeback has hit a roadblock after the former congressman was arrested for failing to appear in court.
Axios reported last week that the scandal-prone Republican is preparing to run for a soon-to-be-vacant seat in Florida’s 19th District. However, he’ll need to get his legal affairs in order first, after being detained by authorities yet again.
This time, the 30-year-old was snared on a warrant issued after he was arrested in August for driving without a license. He was due in a Florida court to answer for that alleged infringement, but failed to appear.
Cops picked him up on Wednesday in Cape Coral, Florida, on a warrant issued in Collier County before releasing him on $2,000 bond.
His team blamed his packed schedule. In a statement given to ABC News affiliate Gulf Coast Now, his spokesperson said: “Former Congressman, Madison Cawthorn, was arrested earlier today for failure to appear for a routine traffic infraction. Madison keeps a very busy schedule and, due to a scheduling misunderstanding, did not appear in court this morning. Following processing Madison was immediately released.”
Cawthorn was elected in 2020 to represent North Carolina’s 11th District, becoming the youngest member of Congress and the first to be born in the 1990s, but served only one two-year term after losing out in a primary. He is no stranger to tangles with law enforcement, including a rash of traffic violations. In March 2022, he was charged with driving with a revoked license in North Carolina.
In October 2021, he was pulled over in the same state for allegedly driving 89 mph in a 65-mph zone. Highway Patrol footage suggests that Cawthorn didn’t even know he wasn’t the registered owner of the car he was driving.
Cawthorn, who was not carrying a license, told the traffic cop he was the owner of the vehicle before the officer ran the plates and found information to the contrary. “It looks like it’s registered to, I guess, your dad?” the officer said.
“Is it really?” Cawthorn responded. He got away with a ticket.
In April 2024, he slammed his vehicle into the parked car of a Florida State Trooper.
Politically, Cawthorn has had plenty of run-ins, too. He lost his congressional seat after a scandal-plagued first term where he alleged, without evidence, that his GOP colleagues invited him to orgies, and that they frequently used cocaine. He later admitted that his claims were “exaggerated.”
Cawthorn, who had enjoyed Donald Trump’s backing before being primaried in 2022, has also been busted twice attempting to carry a gun through airport security. In May 2022, he confirmed the authenticity of a bizarre video showing him, nude, dry-humping another man’s head. He said its release was part of a politically motivated hit campaign.
The MAGA bad boy—who is wheelchair-bound as a result of a car crash when he was 18—spoke at Trump’s Stop the Steal rally on Jan. 6, 2021, and, months later, called those arrested for invading the Capitol and attacking police officers “political prisoners.”
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