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Madison Cawthorne’s Story Of How He Met His Soon-To-Be Ex-Wife Sounds Like Something Straight Out Of ‘The Americans’

Last week, Madison Cawthorn — the Trumpist lawmaker who thinks women are “earthen vessels” — surprised his conservative base by announcing he was getting divorced after about a year. But there was far, far more to the story. On Monday, people dug up an interview the North Carolina representative did with The Daily Caller in which he described how he and his soon-to-be-ex met cute. And it’s the kind of meet-cute you would see on an episode of The Americans.

As per Daily Kos, the interview hails from June, about six months after Cawthorn wed Cristina Bayardelle, so the lucky couple were likely still enjoying the salad days of their union. How did they meet? Well, the story, as told by Cawthorn, begins with the words “It all starts in a Russian casino,” and, well, it kind of gets weirder from there.

The story actually begins earlier than that, when Cawthorn and some friends went on a European trip before he underwent some intense reconstructive back surgery. They wound up in Sweden and Norway, and eventually Russia. There, they went to a St. Petersburg casino, where Cawthorn met “Todd,” an Army captain from Miami whom he quickly befriended.

The two later reconnected when Cawthorn was down in Miami. Todd texted the future politician, asking if he wanted to take part in a CrossFit competition. That’s where things get fishy.

“And so I laughed and said, ‘Well, Todd, I’m in a wheelchair. I obviously can’t do CrossFit.’ And he said, ‘Well, just do the pull-up section.’ And I was like, ‘OK, sounds good. And so I show up, but anyways it all was a sham. It was a fake CrossFit competition and he just wanted to put me in the same room with the girl who was eventually gonna become my fiancée. … And so we did and her and I hit it off and it’s been a magical relationship ever since.”

Few seemed to notice Cawthorn’s story when it aired over the summer, but when it belatedly made its way into the public consciousness, people found it pretty sketchy.

https://twitter.com/master_deli/status/1474128164746059782

Others poked holes in his story.

To make things even more suspect, Cawthorn went on Fox News over the Christmas weekend, where he sang the praises of Russian military might.

His compliments did not go unnoticed by Russian forces, who aired them on national television.

What’s the truth? Will it ever come out? Whatever happens, Cawthorn is still out there, spreading lies and violent rhetoric on the taxpayers’ dime.

(Via Daily Kos)