Adding to the attention Cawthorn faces over the social media post, there are now new questions about his educational claims.
His website states that he "was nominated to the U.S. Naval Academy by Rep. Mark Meadows in 2014. However, Madison's plans were derailed that year after he nearly died in a tragic automobile accident that left him partially paralyzed and in a wheelchair."
But in a deposition related to the accident obtained first by AVL Watchdog, a non-profit news service, Cawthorn acknowledged that he was rejected by the academy before his accident.
Asked if he was notified by the Naval Academy that he did not get in, Cawthorn replied that he was. When he was then asked if that was before the accident, he responded, "It was."
In the interview with WLOS News 13, Cawthorn contended that he was not misleading.
"I never said I was appointed or accepted to the academy, I knew that I'd only been nominated at that point," he said, adding, "I fully expected to be accepted and to be appointed, but at that point I hadn't received it. So I've been very careful never to mischaracterize who I am as a person."