Republican congresswoman Nancy Mace has accused her ex-fiancé and three other men of sex crimes in a shocking speech to the House of Representatives.
The South Carolina representative said on Monday that she had discovered a digital cache of more than 10,000 videos and photos that showed her former partner Patrick Bryant and his business associates abusing numerous women, including herself.
"I accidentally uncovered some of the most heinous crimes against women imaginable," Mace told the House. "We are talking about rape, nonconsensual photos, non-consensual videos of women and underage girls, and the premeditated, calculated, exploitation of women and girls in my district."
Bryant categorically denied the allegations, and Mace did not present any evidence.
"I take this matter seriously, and will cooperate fully with any necessary legal processes to clear my name," Bryant told The New York Times.
Members of Congress have legal immunity for anything they say "within the legislative sphere,” indicting that Mace may be protected from lawsuits over her remarks.
Since her election in 2021, Mace has been vocal about her past experiences of rape and sexual assault. She has pitched herself as a defender of women's rights even as she supported restrictions on abortion and campaigned for Donald Trump, who was found liable for sexual abuse in a civil trial.
In recent months she has pushed to ban trans people from public bathrooms corresponding to their lived gender, at one point repeatedly shouting the slur "tr***y" in a House hearing.
In her nearly hour-long speech on Monday, Mace alleged that she discovered the cache of evidence in October 2023 on her then-fiancé's phone.
She claimed she found a video of a naked woman who clearly was not aware she was being filmed, only to realize the woman was her.
"I was horrified. I was humiliated. I was violated," Mace said.
Mace further alleged that the files she found included numerous non-consensual images, such as "upskirt photos,” as well as sexual assault.
She claimed that she was speaking out in Congress because South Carolina's attorney general Alan Wilson, whom she called a "do-nothing,” had failed to act on her accusations even after she "turned over everything" she had found.
A spokesperson for Wilson's office said that this had not happened, and that Mace's attacks on him were "categorically false.”
At “this time, our office has not received any reports or requests for assistance from any law enforcement or prosecution agencies regarding these matters," the spokesperson said.
"Additionally, the Attorney General and members of his office have had no role and no knowledge of these allegations until her public statements. Xongresswoman Mace and the Attorney General have been at multiple events together over the last six months [and has his] personal cellphone number. Not once has she approached or reached out to him regarding any of her concerns,” the spokesperson added.
