The date the photos were taken is unclear, though they appear to show Cawthorn sitting in a wheelchair, indicating the event happened after his accident. A second person formerly close to Cawthorn and his campaign confirmed the origin of the photos. They were provided to POLITICO by a person formerly close to Cawthorn and his campaign. POLITICO could not independently verify the photos, which are screenshots of original images. Cawthorn, who was paralyzed from the waist down as a passenger in a car accident in Florida in 2014, in recent months has called Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “thug,” suggested teetotaling Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has a drinking problem, and racked up a collection of traffic transgressions including speeding, driving with expired tags and driving with a revoked license.
