Cawthorn back in headlines with Russian casino story

North Carolina congressman Madison Cawthorn is back in the national spotlight for his story about a Russian casino and a fake fitness competition.

Critics of the Republican freshman resurfaced a video interview from the spring of 2020, just after Cawthorn won the primary for his 11th district seat. The interview, by the right-wing news outlet Daily Caller, included a question for Cawthorn about how he had met his then-fiancée, Cristina Bayardelle.

The video gained traction on social media less than a week after the congressman said that the two would be divorcing after just eight months of marriage.

Cawthorn told the interviewer he was on a trip with friends to Norway and Sweden.

"We got on a boat and went into St. Petersburg and Russia," Cawthorn said in the interview. "And, you know, we just decided to take $100 each and go into a casino and see how it went. And, you know, I ended up meeting an American there who was a captain in the Army and was originally from Miami. And so we hit it off, created a really great relationship and stayed in contact for about a year and a half."

Cawthorn said he was in Miami on business when the captain, named Todd, messaged him.

"He texted me and said, 'Hey, would you like to come compete in a CrossFit competition?' So I laughed and said, 'Well, Todd, I'm in a wheelchair. I obviously can't do CrossFit.' And he's like, 'Well, just do the pullup section.' I was like, 'OK, sounds good.'

"So I show up, but anyways, it all was a sham. It was a fake CrossFit competition," Cawthorn told the interviewer. "He just wanted to put me in the same room with the girl who was eventually going to become my fiancée. And so her and I hit it off. It's been a magical relationship ever since."

Some on social media turned immediately to speculation about whether Cawthorn had been the target of a Russian "honeypot" operation, an espionage tactic in which an agent uses seduction for access. Cawthorn mocked those commenters as "conspiracy theorists."

Speculation aside, Cawthorn's story itself raises a lot of questions. When did this all happen? Who did he travel with? Which casino? And who was Captain Todd?

Luke Ball, a spokesman for Cawthorn, declined to supply answers to WRAL News. “The sick individuals spreading wild conspiracy theories about Congressman Cawthorn in the wake of his deeply personal divorce announcement are hateful and unwell," Ball wrote in a statement. "We’re not dignifying this baseless narrative with any further response.”

Meredith College political science professor David McLennan was in disbelief about the Cawthorn story.

"This is a bad Hollywood script that would be rejected for a film or TV series," he said.

McLennan predicted the story wouldn't do any political damage to Cawthorn, especially with his base voters. On the contrary, he said, Cawthorn seems to make it a habit to appear in the headlines frequently enough to become nationally known. And each time, he added, the congressman gets a fundraising boost out of it.

"He makes money and people remember the name Madison Cawthorn. Is there any other first-term member of the North Carolina delegation to Congress that is known nationally?" McLennan asked. "I can't remember one in my lifetime."

"The question is, do people who live in his district and are represented by him—whichever district he ends up running in—do they think he's doing a good job representing them?" McLennan said. "I think that's where we might see a difference between being nationally popular and politically viable."