Watchdog files ethics complaint against Rep. Cawthorn over Capitol riot

A government watchdog group is seeking an ethics investigation that could lead to the expulsion of newly elected U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina, arguing that he helped spur the riot at the Capitol that caused the death of a police officer and four others, and broke a federal regulation and a local law that bar firearms in the building.

The Campaign for Accountability filed an ethics complaint Friday against Cawthorn, a Henderson County Republican who represents the 11th District, and two Republican Arizona congressmen. Cawthorn, 25, is the youngest person elected to Congress in modern times.

“Government officials are not above the law,” said Michelle Kuppersmith, executive director of the Campaign for Accountability in Washington, D.C., in an emailed statement. “If the people Rep. Cawthorn encouraged to illegally enter the Capitol can be prosecuted for carrying a firearm, so can the congressman. Moreover, no elected official should ever use their platform to instigate the subversion of our democratic process.”

The watchdog’s complaint also asks the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate Arizona Reps. Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs for inciting a riot to thwart Congress’ role in certifying Joe Biden’s victory over incumbent Donald Trump. The complaint focuses on Gosar and Biggs’s interactions with a right-wing activist who claimed that they and U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, an Alabama Republican, plotted the insurrection with him.

Read more: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article248677265.html
(Raleigh News & Observer)