IPhone 5 was not charging? What do I do?

I think my gloves fabric went into the charging slot and it must have been wet because of the snow outside. I didn't use the phone while using my gloves but somehow there's stuff in the charging slot. I noticed it wasn't chargin when I plugged my lightning cable into it and nothing was happening. I take out and look at the tip of the charging cord and it had some wet dark cotton on it (like my gloves).

I shutdown the phone and am now removing the stuff using a toothpick. What should I do I'm scared it will never charge. Will it work still when I remove the stuff? Should I wait till it dries, the cotton seems a bit wet but not really that much.

Is my phone charging already shorted?

Any tips on what I should do?

Make sure its dried out before turning it on again, water can ruin stuff like this. I would do what you are doing, make sure the port is cleaned out then make sure its dry, stuff in the port can definitely affect it, even lint and dust, etc.

My sister plugged my Iphone 5 in while it was still wet. Should I just go by a new one. This one now has a red screen.