North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is a “thug” and the Ukrainian government is “evil” in a recent video.
QUICK FACTS:
- “Remember that Zelenskyy is a thug,” Cawthorn said in a video published by the local television station WRAL. “Remember that the Ukrainian government is incredibly corrupt and is incredibly evil and has been pushing woke ideologies.”
- Karl Rove, former White House deputy chief of staff, claims Cawthorn’s statements “don’t reflect Republican opinion.”
- “Republican members of Congress, candidates and commentators echoing Mr. Trump’s isolationism and Kremlin apologetics are out of sync with GOP voters,” Rove wrote in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal.
CAWTHORN’S SPOKESPERSON ON THE REMARKS:
“The Congressman was expressing his displeasure at how foreign leaders, including Zelenskyy, had recently used false propaganda to entice America into becoming involved in an overseas conflict.”
BACKGROUND:
- Cawthorn took to Twitter to follow up on his initial remarks, saying “Propaganda is being used to entice America into another war,” along with a link to an article highlighting the misinformation in the Russia-Ukraine war.
- “The actions of Putin and Russia are disgusting. But leaders, including Zelenskyy, should NOT push misinformation on America,” Cawthorn said.
