'Troubling questions': Madison Cawthorn called out by local paper over ties to Jan 6th protest

The editorial board of a prominent North Carolina publication is taking aim at Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) following the release of a damning Rolling Stone report detailing his alleged connection to events that transpired on January 6 at the U.S. Capitol.

The Rolling Stone report suggests that organizers of the "Stop the Steal" rally were in communication with the freshman lawmaker and his staff as well as other Republication lawmakers while they planned the event.

Cawthorn's alleged connection to the rally organizers raises "serious questions" about his possible culpability. The latest report has prompted a review by the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol riots and former President Donald Trump's level of accountability.

Tthe News Observer has released an editorial sharing its reaction to the report about Cawthorn.

The publication wrote that "that two organizers of the Jan. 6 protests have told congressional investigators that 'multiple members of Congress were intimately involved in planning both Trump's efforts to overturn his election loss and the Jan. 6 events that turned violent.'"

They added, "Rolling Stone said the organizers, speaking anonymously, named seven Republican members of Congress who joined, either directly or through their staffers, in the effort to overturn the election. Republican North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn was among those named."

Although Cawthorn's office has already waived off the reports and denied the allegations, News Observer editors believe further investigation is certainly necessary.

"Anyone who truly cares about democracy knows it is threatened by the authoritarian instincts of Trump and his followers, and by Republicans who are too timid to stand against that threat. Elected officials like Cawthorn are not simply zealots or cranks. They are the start of what could become an anti-democratic wave that would have a white and wealthy minority preside over the nation against the popular will."

They concluded writing, "Now, the committee must uncover who those bad actors are — and how many of them are from North Carolina."