U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn, wife are divorcing

U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn and his wife are divorcing, the North Carolina Republican announced in a statement Wednesday, citing irreconcilable differences.

Cawthorn, 26, who was elected to Congress last November, said that he and his wife Cristina “mutually decided to divorce.”

He shared the news of their marriage in an April tweet. Cawthorn said Wednesday that they were engaged before he was in Congress, that after he took office their lives changed, and that they tried “balancing the enormity of such a transition in life.”

“Together, we realized that balance was not attainable, and that we had irreconcilable differences between us,” he said in the statement distributed by his spokesman.

Cawthorn, the youngest member of Congress, is a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus and an ally of former President Donald Trump. He has promoted false claims about election fraud and in August warned about the possibility of "bloodshed." His spokesman said he was not advocating for violence.