国会山的共和党人似乎对众议员麦迪逊·考森(Madison Cawthorn)引发的长达一周的争议感到沮丧，他在最近的一次采访中未经证实地声称，他的一些同事邀请他参加性派对并使用可卡因。

“我很清楚，麦迪逊的社交生活肯定比我所知的任何其他国会议员都要活跃，”共和党众议员达斯丁·约翰逊(Dusty Johnson)周五在国会山表示。"他所说的不可能是真的。"

一名播客主持人问这位来自北卡罗莱纳州的26岁新生共和党议员，他在华盛顿的经历是否符合网飞《纸牌屋》(House of Cards)中描述的黑暗戏剧，该剧讲述了一名雄心勃勃的议员以谋杀和残酷的方式登上总统宝座的故事。

“我看着所有这些人，他们中的许多人是我一生中一直尊敬的人，一直关注政治，你知道——然后突然你被邀请，就像‘哦，嘿，我们将在我们的一个家里举行一次性聚会。你应该来。我就想，‘什么?“你刚才叫我来干什么?”然后你意识到他们是在邀请你去参加一个狂欢派对，”卡索恩在接受“勇士诗人协会”的播客采访时说。"

Cawthorn在播客中继续说道:“或者这样一个事实，你知道，在我们国家，有一些人正在领导一场试图消除毒瘾的运动，然后你看着他们就在你面前吸食可卡因。就好像，这太疯狂了。”

Cawthorn的共和党同事已经迅速与他的评论保持距离，并谴责了这些指控。

至少有一名议员，阿肯色州众议员史蒂夫·沃马克(Steve Womack)在周二的一次闭门共和党会议上表达了对卡特霍恩言论的不满。

据熟悉沃马克言论的消息人士透露，沃马克告诉他的同事，他被迫面对选民提出的关于“狂欢”和“毒品聚会”的问题。

周五晚些时候，Cawthorn发表了一份声明，抨击“左派和媒体”,指责他们“错误地”影射他关于性派对和可卡因的言论是关于国会议员的。

“我在最近一次播客中呼吁腐败的评论被左派和媒体用来贬低我的共和党同事，并错误地暗示他们参与了非法活动，”Cawthorn说发微博。

Cawthorn补充说，他花了“几天时间”考虑如何“最好地解决这一争议。”

他发表声明的两天前，他被召集与众议院共和党领袖凯文·麦卡锡和其他共和党领袖开会。

据一位熟悉讨论的消息人士透露，在这次会议期间，Cawthorn本人告诉共和党领导层，一名国会成员邀请他参加一个性派对，但当被追问更多细节时，他拒绝透露立法者的身份，并“收回”他的说法。

格雷格·纳什/美联社

众议院少数党领袖凯文·麦卡锡向躺在sta中的众议员唐·杨致敬...

会议持续了30分钟，参加会议的有考索恩、麦卡锡、众议院共和党党鞭史蒂夫·斯卡利斯和共和党众议员迈克·约翰逊，他们去年被指定为这位新议员的导师。

政治第一据报告的会议的细节。

麦卡锡在会后告诉记者，考恩“没有说实话”，他承认夸大了自己的说法。麦卡锡说，他告诉考索恩改变他的行为，否则将会有后果。

“这是不可接受的。对此没有证据，”麦卡锡说。“这不符合国会议员的身份。他没有说实话。”

“在采访中，他声称他看到人们吸食可卡因。然后当他进来的时候，他告诉我，他说他认为他可能在100码外看到一个停车场的工作人员，并告诉我他根本不知道可卡因是什么，”麦卡锡说。

“宪法规定了你可以在国会任职的年龄。但当你在国会时，你应该尊重这个机构，你应该专注于你应该做的工作，”麦卡锡说。

他说，他告诉Cawthorn，他必须“赢得他的信任”，否则他可能会失去他的委员会任务或面临其他惩罚。

“他让很多议员非常不安，”麦卡锡说，并补充道，“作为国会议员，你不能发表那样的声明;它影响到其他所有人和整个国家。”

在对记者的讲话中，麦卡锡指出了这位年轻议员最近几个月犯下的其他罪行，包括驾照被吊销后驾驶，未经允许邀请国会候选人到众议院，然后对此撒谎，并将乌克兰总统弗拉基米尔·泽伦斯基称为“暴徒”。

Cawthorn的办公室没有回复ABC新闻的多次评论请求，也没有提供证据来支持他的说法。

熟悉会议的消息人士告诉ABC新闻，共和党领导人要求Cawthorn发表公开道歉并澄清他的言论。

Cawthorn没有公开道歉，但他给选民发了一封信，甚至发布了一个新的竞选广告，他在广告中挑衅地说，“我永远不会向暴徒低头。”

“有许多人鄙视我们为代表北卡罗莱纳州西部所做的伟大工作，但我保证，我将继续专注于华盛顿仍然需要为我美丽的选区做的工作，”Cawthorn说。

得克萨斯州共和党众议员特洛伊·尼尔斯(Troy Nehls)周五在接受美国广播公司新闻采访时，对卡特霍恩明显感到沮丧，称这些指控“不负责任”。

“如果你说了这样的话，你会和其他人一起证实这一点，”尼尔斯说。“听着，我们一生中都会犯错误。”

来自内布拉斯加州的共和党资深议员唐·培根告诉美国广播公司新闻，卡特霍恩最近的评论反映了国会作为一个机构的糟糕表现。

“像这样的指控，如果不属实，会伤害整个机构，”培根说。"我认为会议的观点是，如果它们是真的，就指名道姓。"

“国会的支持率很低，我们必须做得更好，”他说。

北卡罗来纳州的共和党参议员理查德·伯尔和汤姆·蒂利斯都表示，他们不会在即将到来的初选中支持考森。

“在任何一天，他都是一个尴尬，”伯尔告诉记者。

民主党人也抓住了这场争议。

纽约州民主党众议员亚历山大·奥卡西奥-科尔特斯(Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez)在推特上写道:“不知道共和党人为什么对Cawthorn涉嫌披露他们的政党感到如此震惊。”“他们的一名成员正在接受性交易未成年人的调查，他们已经很好了。他们向投票弹劾特朗普的议员发出了更多后果。”

对于Cawthorn来说，这是令人头晕目眩的一周，在出人意料地赢得了前共和党众议员马克·梅多斯(Mark Meadows)在国会中留下的一个席位后，他被认为对更高的职位抱有野心，后者已离开担任前总统唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)在白宫的幕僚长。

自上任以来，Cawthorn一直支持特朗普-他说他在去年打电话给他寻求建议。

前总统显然仍站在他一边。

周五，特朗普宣布Cawthorn将成为下周末他在北卡罗来纳州集会的嘉宾。

Republicans frustrated with GOP Rep. Madison Cawthorn over unsubstantiated sex, drug claims

Republicans on Capitol Hill appeared frustrated with the weeklong controversy sparked by Rep. Madison Cawthorn, who made unsubstantiated claims in a recent interview that some of his colleagues invited him to sex parties and used cocaine.

"It's pretty clear to me that Madison must have a far more active social life than any other member of Congress that I'm aware of," Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., said Friday on Capitol Hill. "What he's saying can't possibly be true."

The 26-year-old freshman Republican lawmaker from North Carolina was asked by a podcast host if his experience in Washington comported with the dark drama depicted in Netflix's "House of Cards," the story of an ambitious lawmaker's murderous and cutthroat climb to the presidency.

"I look at all these people, a lot of them that I've always looked up to through my life, always paid attention to politics, guys that, you know -- then all of the sudden you get invited to, like, 'Oh hey, we're going to have kind of a sexual get-together at one of our homes. You should come.' And I'm like, 'What? What did you just ask me to come to?' And then you realize they're asking you to come to an orgy," Cawthorn said during a podcast interview with the "Warrior Poet Society."

Cawthorn continued on the podcast: "Or the fact that, you know, there's some of the people that are leading on the movement to try and remove addiction in our country, and then you watch them do a key bump of cocaine right in front of you. And it's like, this is wild."

Cawthorn's Republican colleagues have been quick to distance themselves from his comments and have denounced the allegations.

At least one lawmaker, Rep. Steve Womack of Arkansas, expressed his frustrations about Cawthorn's comments during a closed-door GOP conference meeting on Tuesday.

Womack told his colleagues that he has been forced to face questions about "orgies" and "drug parties" from his constituents, per sources familiar with his comments.

Late Friday, Cawthorn released a statement blasting "the left and the media" for "falsely" insinuating his remarks about sex parties and cocaine were about members of Congress.

"My comments on a recent podcast appearance calling out corruption have been used by the left and the media to disparage my Republican colleagues and falsely insinuate their involvement in illicit activities," Cawthorntweeted.

Cawthorn added that he spent "several days" considering how to "best address this controversy."

His statement comes two days after he was called in for a meeting with House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and other Republican leaders.

During this meeting, Cawthorn himself told Republican leadership that a member of Congress had invited him to a sex party, but when pressed for more details, he refused to identify the lawmaker and "backpedaled" his claims, per a source familiar with the discussion.

The meeting, which lasted 30 minutes, was attended by Cawthorn, McCarthy, House Republican Whip Steve Scalise and GOP Rep. Mike Johnson, who had been assigned to mentor the freshman lawmaker last year.

Politico firstreporteddetails of the meeting.

McCarthy told reporters following the meeting that Cawthorn "did not tell the truth" and that he had admitted to exaggerating his claims. McCarthy said he told Cawthorn to change his behavior, otherwise there would be consequences.

"This is unacceptable. There's no evidence to this," McCarthy said. "That's not becoming of a congressman. He did not tell the truth."

"In the interview, he claims he watched people do cocaine. Then when he comes in, he tells me, he says he thinks he saw maybe a staffer in a parking garage from 100 yards away and tells me that he doesn't know what cocaine is basically," McCarthy said.

"The Constitution gives you the age when you could serve in Congress. But when you're in Congress, you should respect the institution and you should focus on the work that you should do," McCarthy said.

He said he told Cawthorn that he had to "earn his trust" back, or else he could lose his committee assignments or face other punishment.

"He's got a lot of members very upset," McCarthy said, adding, "You can't make statements like that, as a member of Congress; it affects everybody else and the country as a whole."

During his remarks to reporters, McCarthy pointed to other transgressions the young lawmaker had committed in recent months, including driving with a suspended license, inviting a congressional candidate on the House floor without permission and then lying about it and referring to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as a "thug."

Cawthorn's office did not return multiple requests for comment to ABC News, nor has Cawthorn provided proof to back up his claims.

Sources familiar with the meeting told ABC News that the Republican leaders asked Cawthorn to issue a public apology and clarify his remarks.

Cawthorn has not publicly apologized, but he did send a letter to constituents and even issued a new campaign ad, in which he defiantly said, "I will never bow to the mob."

"There are many who despise the great work we're doing to represent western North Carolina, but I promise, I will stay focused on the work that still needs to be done in Washington for my beautiful district," Cawthorn said.

Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, who appeared visibly frustrated with Cawthorn during an interview with ABC News on Friday, called the allegations "irresponsible."

"If you say something like that, you corroborate that with other people," Nehls said. "Listen, we all make mistakes in our lives."

Rep. Don Bacon, a veteran GOP lawmaker from Nebraska, told ABC News that Cawthorn's recent comments have reflected poorly on Congress as an institution.

"Allegations like that, if they're not true, hurt the whole institution," Bacon said. "I think the view of the conference is, if they're true, name names."

"Congress has got a low favorable rating, we've got to do better than this," he said.

Both of North Carolina's Republican senators -- Richard Burr and Thom Tillis -- said they won't back Cawthorn in his upcoming primary race.

"On any given day, he's an embarrassment," Burr told reporters.

Democrats also pounced on the controversy.

"Not sure why Republicans are acting so shocked by Cawthorn's alleged revelations about their party," Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., tweeted. "One of their members is being investigated for sex trafficking a minor and they've been pretty OK w/ that. They issued more consequences to members who voted to impeach Trump."

It's been a dizzying week for Cawthorn, who is thought to have ambitions for higher office after unexpectedly winning a seat in Congress vacated by former GOP Rep. Mark Meadows, who left to serve as former president Donald Trump's chief of staff at the White House.

Cawthorn has embraced Trump since taking office -- saying he has called him up for advice in the last year.

The former president is clearly still on his side.

On Friday, Trump announced Cawthorn would be a guest at his rally in North Carolina next weekend.