Nancy Mace accuses ex-fiancé of sexual abuse in Home speech
Rep. Nancy Mace accused her ex-fiancé and three enterprise companions of committing “wicked” sexual crimes towards herself and a dozen different girls — together with underage women — in explosive remarks within the Home of Representatives Monday.
The South Carolina Republican pol stated she got here ahead with the surprising allegations of rape, voyeurism and different sexual abuse after uncovering a trove of greater than 10,000 movies and different photographic proof contained on the telephone by her former husband-to-be Patrick Bryant.
“I by accident uncovered a few of the most heinous crimes towards girls conceivable — we’re speaking about rape, nonconsensual photographs, nonconsensual movies of ladies and underage women, and the premeditated, calculated, exploitation of ladies and women in my district,” Mace stated in her Home ground speech.
“Right now you’ll hear concerning the wicked males behind these gutless, evil acts,” she added. “These males didn’t simply hurt their victims; they recorded their depravity as if it had been a badge of honor.”
The digital recordsdata Mace claims she found in November 2023 included nonconsensual photos of “feminine staff, wives of male staff, girlfriends and different girls who very clearly didn’t know their personal components had been being filmed or photographed,” the congresswoman stated, together with “upskirt photographs” of no less than one underage lady who was the daughter of a enterprise affiliate.
“Final yr, I needed to inform a lady that she’d been raped, and she or he didn’t even understand it,” Mace stated, telling lawmakers that she found a video of Bryant and one in every of his enterprise associates allegedly recording one other enterprise affiliate sexually assaulting an “incapacitated” lady.
“She had no concept as a result of she was incapacitated on the time of the rape,” Mace stated. “I knew she was raped as a result of I by accident discovered the video of her being raped.”
“The 2 of them, the three of them enterprise companions, the 2 of them had their telephones out identical to this. Filming her as she was being raped. And he or she was utterly laid out. There was no motion. There was no life. I couldn’t even inform if this younger lady was alive.”
Mace, who introduced no proof throughout her remarks, is shielded from potential prison prosecution and civil lawsuits by the Structure’s speech and debate clause, which supplies lawmakers with immunity for “acts taken throughout the legislative sphere.”
The congresswoman claims she instructed the state lawyer common’s workplace that there have been youngsters current on the property the place the lady was allegedly raped however that state social staff weren’t notified.
Mace additionally alleged that one in every of Bryant’s enterprise associates had “tried to intimidate” her from bringing the proof to gentle — and that South Carolina Legal professional Basic Alan Wilson didn’t probe the act as witness intimidation regardless of apparently opening an investigation into the intercourse crime allegations.
The congresswoman stated it took Wilson’s workplace seven months from the time she first got here ahead with the allegations and proof for an investigation to be opened.
With some feminine victims apparently listening within the Home gallery, Mace went on to recount how stumbling upon her ex-fiancé on a courting app in October 2023 prompted Bryant to permit her entry to his telephone the place she was horrified to discover a video of herself “undressed” and “unaware she was being filmed.”
“I turned up the quantity to listen to if there was audio. I heard my voice. I zoomed in on the video. The girl was me,” Mace revealed. “My complete physique paralyzed, and I couldn’t transfer.”
After making the terrifying discovery, she claimed that Bryant “bodily assaulted” her and she or he was compelled out of her house and “into hiding” the next month, transferring in with buddies and altering tackle no less than 4 instances in a single yr.
“I nonetheless have the mark Patrick Bryant made on me. Somewhat than see this mark as a scar, I see this scar because the mark of a free lady; free from a monster,” Mace additionally stated, disclosing that she had since been identified with post-traumatic stress dysfunction.
“This isn’t a narrative about bitter ex-girlfriends … or consensual intercourse tapes, there are many these. I don’t care what two consenting adults comply with do. That’s the definition of freedom. This can be a story about predators who hunt girls for sport.”
All through the speech, Mace alleged that Wilson intentionally stalled his investigation into the intercourse crimes and was a part of “a system which did not shield” feminine victims.
“If anybody wish to arrest me for standing up for ladies — listed here are my wrists. Arrest me. Take me to jail,” she threatened. “I’m 100% responsible for turning over proof of peeping toms, of turning over proof of rape, of turning over proof of voyeurism, of turning over proof of intercourse trafficking and who is aware of, in all probability a complete heck of rather a lot increasingly crimes I don’t have time to get into tonight.”
“South Carolina Legal professional Basic Alan Wilson — you aren’t an actual man as a result of actual males, actual males shield girls,” she stated with scorn.
Wilson’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to The Submit’s request for remark.
Bryant and two of his alleged enterprise companions that Mace referenced, John Osborne and Eric Bowman, didn’t reply to The Submit’s requests for remark.
Brian Musgrave, who Mace claims owned properties with Bryant with hidden cameras put in in them, known as the allegations “baseless.”
“Nancy Mace’s assertion tonight is a harmful mixture of falsehoods and baseless accusations, recklessly leveled at 4 people with out a shred of proof,” he instructed The Submit.
“Her continued sample of creating inflammatory claims with out proof will not be solely reckless however a blatant try to weaponize the authorized system for political and private achieve,” Musgrave added.
Mace, 47, cited no less than a dozen items of laws she had authored to crack down on intercourse offenders and defend girls from abuse — together with her Sue VOYEURS Act, which permits for the prosecution of those that take nonconsensual intercourse movies of others.
“I’m sounding the alarm on predators who’re nonetheless roaming the streets of South Carolina, and our chief regulation enforcement officer, Legal professional Basic Alan Wilson, is aware of it,” the Republican pol stated.
“None of that is conjecture. These should not allegations. These are info. It’s documented,” Mace stated of her claims.
