gotchanewsdaily.com 
Washington
CNN
—
As Rep. Nancy Mace prepared to speak, she took out a Bible and — as if she were in a courtroom, instead of on the House floor — she placed her right hand and swore to tell the “whole truth.”
The South Carolina congresswoman then delivered a damning 53-minute speech that has no precedent in the chamber’s history. Describing herself as “going scorched earth,” Mace accused her ex-fiancé of “evil” crimes including physical assault, rape and sex trafficking against her and other women — accusing him and several other men by name on the floor. While Mace did not provide specific evidence of her claims, she said she brought the case to state authorities for further investigation.
“Tonight is about justice for me and tonight is about justice for all of the women that you all raped, that you all filmed, that you all photographed, that you all abused for years,” Mace said on the floor, in a tone that alternated between somber and scorching. Three other GOP women, Reps. Anna Paulina Luna, Lauren Boebert and Victoria Spartz, sat behind her, listening closely, while Mace’s mother sat in the House gallery above.
South Carolina’s top law enforcement agency confirmed to CNN that they opened an investigation into “allegations of assault, harassment, and voyeurism on December 14, 2023, after being contacted by the United States Capitol Police.” They said the subject of their investigation is Patrick Bryant, who is Mace’s ex-fiancé. The agency described the ongoing case as “complex” and said it has “conducted multiple interviews, served multiple search warrants, and has a well-documented case file.” Capitol Police did not respond to requests for more information from CNN.
In a statement to the Associated Press, Bryant strongly denied that what Mace said was true.
“I categorically deny these allegations. I take this matter seriously and will cooperate fully with any necessary legal processes to clear my name,” Bryant told the Associated Press.
The stirring and highly unusual speech has reverberated across South Carolina politics. Mace, who is weighing a run for governor, went after her ex-fiancé, a local South Carolina businessman and his associates by name — seemingly protecting herself from libel laws by using the House’s “speech and debate” clause that protects speech on the floor.
CNN has attempted to reach out to the men Mace named. The former fiancé denied all charges in his statement to the Associated Press.
Mace also accused her home state’s attorney general, Alan Wilson, who is also mulling a gubernatorial run, of ignoring her allegations. Wilson also happens to be the son of Rep. Joe Wilson — who has served alongside Mace in the House since her arrival in 2021.
On the floor, Mace stood beside a giant posterboard labeled “PREDATORS,” with her ex-fiancé and the other men’s photos marked with their names. She had displayed a posterboard with Wilson’s face, describing him as a “DO NOTHING ATTORNEY GENERAL.” In a lengthy statement, Wilson’s office firmly denied Mace’s claims, saying the office “has not received any reports or requests for assistance from any law enforcement or prosecution agencies regarding these matters.”
Some of the speech described what she called her own low point: Fleeing her home, going “into hiding” and experiencing PTSD after she claimed she discovering alarming videos on her ex-fiancé’s phone, and later, security cameras. At other points, she accused the men of what she called “premeditated, calculated exploitation” of other women, including some who were underage. She claimed she had found 10,633 separate hidden-camera videos detailing these claims.
“Today I’m going to free myself from the monster who broke me,” Mace said, in a speech that quoted both from the Bible and from Martin Luther King Jr.
Mace has not shied away during her political career from sharing her past traumas. She shared an emotional account of being raped as a teenager in a debate about an abortion bill in the South Carolina Legislature before being elected to Congress.
As Mace left the floor Monday night, she wore a red sticker on her dress that read “SURVIVOR.”
CNN’s Veronica Stracqualursi contributed to this report.
