Madison Cawthorn foes say they wanted to expose his 'absolute hypocrisy' by releasing a sexually explicit video

• American Muckrakers PAC posted a sexually explicit video of a nude Madison Cawthorn with another man.
• Some saw the video as an appeal to homophobia, but the cofounder said that's not true.

To take down Republican Rep. Madison Cawthorn, the American Muckrakers PAC went where no one else would — posting a sexually explicit video of a nude Cawthorn with another man in bed.

The video had been shopped around to multiple media organizations, David Wheeler, a Democrat and the PAC's co-founder told Insider. Wheeler said he hoped someone else would have posted it, "but it was clear that nobody was going to."

"In the public interest, we just couldn't sit on it," he said. "We just felt that this video and his hypocrisy needed to be pointed out."

The group, also known as FireMadison.com, played a key role in exposing damaging information about Cawthorn ahead of his North Carolina primary, which he lost to state Sen. Chuck Edwards on Tuesday.

Led by Wheeler and co-founder, retired Air Force Col. Moe Davis, who ran against Cawthorn in 2020, the group revealed Cawthorn's attempt to take a gun through the Asheville Regional Airport last year. They also filed a complaint accusing Cawthorn of violating US House ethics rules by allegedly providing free housing and gifts to a staff member.

Some thought exposing the video, which showed a naked Cawthorn in bed thrusting his pelvis at the other man's head, went too far.

Clay Aiken, the former American Idol star and North Carolina Democrat, told BuzzFeed News that he was "pissed."

"The idea that anybody would gay-shame someone in order to try to embarrass him in that district and then call themselves a Democrat, I think is ridiculous," said Aiken, whose bid to become the first openly-LGBTQ member of Congress from the South ended with his primary loss on Tuesday.

What "Fire Madison" released "definitely caused a lot of people to think … that they were gay-baiting and that they were playing on tropes of homophobia," said Christopher Cooper, a political science professor at Western Carolina University. "Whether they did that or not, I think people can decide for themselves but it was definitely that accusation."

Wheeler said their decision to expose the video "had nothing to do" with Cawthorn's sexuality.

"We could give a rat's rear end about his sexuality," Wheeler said. "It was about the absolute hypocrisy of somebody that holds himself to be above everybody and then has somebody film him in a hotel room."

A Cawthorn spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.

Cawthorn came under fire for claiming he was invited to orgies in Washington and he attacked "radical expressions of sexuality" in a House floor speech about gender issues. He was called out for hypocrisy after POLITICO published photos of him in women's lingerie.

"He looks down on gay and lesbian folks and criticizes their lifestyle, criticizes who they are, criticize who they love," Wheeler said.

Cawthorn called the lingerie photos "goofy vacation photos" from a cruise game. He responded to the nude video released by the PAC, saying "I was being crass with a friend, trying to be funny. We were acting foolish, and joking. That's it."

"That put us on the map"

Wheeler, a former state Senate candidate, and Davis both ran for office as Democrats and lost in 2020. Cawthorn defeated Davis in the general election by 12 percentage points, and Davis has since changed his registration to "unaffiliated," Wheeler said. The group counts some Republicans among its advisors.

Wheeler said he received the nude video from an anonymous source – a former supporter and donor of Cawthorn's – but he said he would never reveal the person's name.

The PAC sat on the recording for the better part of a week, taking time to consider whether they were being duped, whether any minors were in the video and whether they would break any North Carolina laws by posting it.

The PAC's email host ultimately asked them to take it down, which they did, Wheeler said, and the ActBlue fundraising site removed the group from its website. Wheeler thinks the PAC may file a lawsuit.

They have heard criticism of their decisions, Wheeler said, and they get "a little defensive" about it. He noted that they were both endorsed in their 2020 bids by Equality North Carolina, the country's oldest statewide LGBTQ rights organization, and they have "no track record of homophobia."

"It's the antithesis of what we were trying to do," he said. "I don't know why people would see that versus the hypocrisy."

Their April 27 ethics complaint highlighted a video of the Cawthorn staffer appearing to reach for Cawthorn's crotch from the backseat of a car. It also includes a Venmo history of suggestive messages between the two men.

"That's against House rules, to have a relationship with a member of the US House staff," Wheeler said. "That's all we were pointing out."

Equality North Carolina declined to comment when Insider reached out.

Rather than the nude video, Wheeler said their more effective hit against Cawthorn was the Asheville airport gun incident.

"I think that put us on the map" as a credible source, he said.

Next up: "Fire Boebert"

With Cawthorn's primary behind them, the group is turning next to an attempt to oust Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert in her June 28 primary. Wheeler said they already have information against her dealing with financial matters, though he declined to provide more details.

On Thursday, they launched fireboebert.com, seeking tips on information, pictures, videos, or documents on Boebert or her associates.

A tweet by @FireBoebert reads, "Hi @RepBoebert - Ask @RepCawthorn about us. We look forwarding to getting to know you."