Video shows NC Highway Patrol trooper taking US Rep Madison Cawthorn’s license
A North Carolina trooper’s dashcam video shows the patrolman taking U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn’s driver’s license after pulling him over in Cleveland County.
Superior Court Judge Martin McGee reviewed the North Carolina State Highway Patrol’s footage and said Tuesday that public interest requires the footage’s release, according to court records.
Cleveland County District Attorney Mike Miller, a Republican, opposed the move out of concern that pretrial publicity could complicate the pending case, according to a court memorandum filed by news organizations seeking the release.
The Highway Patrol cited Cawthorn, 26, on March 3 with driving while his license was revoked.
The first-term Republican was cited after a traffic stop in Cleveland County around 10:30 p.m., Sgt. Chris Knox, a patrol spokesman, told McClatchy last month. A trooper had seen a 2019 Toyota truck drive left of center of U.S. 74 Business, Knox had said in a written statement.
The video, released late Tuesday night, confirms a citation provided to McClatchy last month. It said Cawthorn was polite and cooperative during the March 3 stop and that the trooper informed him there was “a pickup order” to take his license.
The trooper’s dashboard camera footage, with sometimes shaky audio, shows his patrol vehicle following the truck for a few minutes before pulling it over.
The trooper informs Cawthorn that he was pulled over for expired tags, to which Cawthorn apologizes. The trooper goes to his patrol car to run Cawthorn’s license. When he returns to Cawthorn’s side of the truck, he tells him his license has been revoked. Cawthorn replies: “Is that so?”
With Cawthorn unable to drive any further, a woman gets out of the passenger-side door, puts on high heels and helps the officer retrieve Cawthorn’s wheelchair from the bed of the truck.
Cawthorn wheels himself over to the passenger side of the vehicle, pausing briefly to shake the trooper’s hand. The woman is seen lifting the wheelchair into the back of the truck as the trooper drives away.
Knox told McClatchy last month that he couldn’t comment on why Cawthorn’s license was revoked because that information is protected under the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act.
Cawthorn is scheduled to appear in court on May 6 in Shelby, McClatchy reported previously.
Cawthorn is seeking reelection in District 11, in far western North Carolina. He faces seven challengers in the May 17 primary.
Cawthorn’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Previous charges, controversies
Court records show this is the second time Cawthorn has been issued the charge of driving with a revoked license. The first, in 2017, was later dismissed.
Knox said Cawthorn has had two additional charges of speeding, both brought by the Highway Patrol, in the past six months.
An Oct. 18, 2021, incident occurred in Buncombe County, when a trooper charged Cawthorn with speeding while he was driving in a white 2009 Dodge passenger vehicle on Interstate 40 near mile marker 59. Knox said Cawthorn traveled 89 mph in a 65 mph zone. The case was disposed March 4, and Cawthorn pleaded guilty to improper equipment and paid a fine of $25.
On Jan. 8, Cawthorn was pulled over in the same vehicle after a trooper said he was traveling 87 mph in a 70 mph zone on U.S. 74 in Polk County. The court date is June 2.
Cawthorn, an outspoken member of Congress, has found himself at the center of numerous controversies, some involving weapons.
In February 2021, airport security stopped Cawthorn in Asheville for attempting to board a plane with a Glock 9 mm handgun, The News & Observer previously reported. Cawthorn was allowed to board his flight without the gun and pick it up from security on his return trip.
In September 2021, Cawthorn took a knife to a school board meeting, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.
While he recently appeared at a North Carolina rally for former President Donald Trump, he has lost support from some of the state’s most powerful Republican leaders, who are backing Sen. Chuck Edwards, one of Cawthorn’s challengers.
Republican Congressman Kevin McCarthy, the top Republican in the U.S. House, said recently that Cawthorn would have to earn back his trust. The comment came after the driving charges and after Cawthorn claimed that he has been invited to orgies with elected officials and had witnessed others doing drugs.
McClatchy DC Correspondent Danielle Battaglia contributed to this report.
This story was originally published April 19, 2022 at 10:50 PM with the headline "Video shows NC Highway Patrol trooper taking US Rep Madison Cawthorn’s license."
