Rep. Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina) accused her ex-fiancé of physically abusing her and filming her without her consent, as well as conspiring with a “cabal” of business associates to sexually abuse women, in an extraordinary speech on the floor of the U.S. House.
In a nearly hour-long speech Monday evening, Mace said she was “going scorched earth” to “call out the cowards who think they can prey on women and get away with it.”
“Today I’m going to free myself from the monster who broke me. Today I’m going to free other women who fell prey to the same man,” she said.
Mace named her ex-fiancé Patrick Bryant and three other South Carolina men as “predators,” accusing them of drugging, raping and filming women without their consent, as well as sex-trafficking.
“Let me be loud and clear. … When you incapacitate women, it’s against the law. When you sexually assault women, it’s called rape. If you film women naked, without their knowledge, without their permission and without their consent, it’s called voyeurism, and it makes you a peeping tom, and it is illegal,” she said.
Ahead of the announcement, Mace shared details of the speech and a hotline she had established for victims. She said: “Any and all statements made by Members on the House Floor are quintessential ‘legislative acts,’ and protected by the Speech and Debate clause afforded under the Constitution of the United States.” Afterward, when asked about the allegations, a representative pointed to Mace’s Twitter account.
Bryant did not immediately respond to a request for comment but told the Associated Press: “I categorically deny these allegations. I take this matter seriously and will cooperate fully with any necessary legal processes to clear my name.”
The Washington Post has not been able to independently verify Mace’s claims. A spokesperson for the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division confirmed the agency has had an active investigation focused on Bryant since 2023. “SLED opened an investigation regarding allegations of assault, harassment, and voyeurism on Dec. 14, 2023, after being contacted by the United States Capitol Police,” SLED spokesperson Renée Wunderlich said in a statement.
“Since that date SLED has conducted multiple interviews, served multiple search warrants, and has a well-documented case file that will be available for release upon the conclusion of the case,” Wunderlich said.
In detailing her allegations, Mace also accused South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson of not acting quickly enough to address them, claiming there were “deliberate delays” in evidence she had handed to state officials. Both Wilson and Mace are considering running for governor, the AP reported.
Wilson rejected Mace’s comments as “categorically false,” saying she either did not understand or was mischaracterizing his role. “Our office has not received any reports or requests for assistance from any law enforcement or prosecution agencies regarding these matters,” his office said in a statement, adding that Mace had Wilson’s number and that they had seen each other several times in recent months.
“The Attorney General and members of his office have had no role and no knowledge of these allegations until her public statements.”
Mace has represented South Carolina’s first congressional district since 2021, and has long positioned herself as an advocate for women’s rights. She has spoken about being raped as a 16-year-old and been an outspoken critic of transgender rights, including participation in women’s sports. In November she introduced a resolution to ban transgender women from female bathrooms in the Capitol, two weeks after Delaware Democrat Sarah McBride became the first openly trans person elected to Congress. She framed the proposal as a matter of safety for women, “especially women who are survivors of abuse.”
She has also defended her support for President Donald Trump despite him being found liable for sexual abuse, accusing ABC News host George Stephanopoulos of trying to “shame” her for her political choices.
In Monday’s speech, Mace used props including a mobile phone, handcuffs, a safe and signs including the name and photographs of the men she accused, saying they had bought themselves a “one way ticket to hell.” She did not present evidence to back up her allegations but said she had materials to corroborate them.
In her speech, Mace described how in November 2023 she “accidentally uncovered some of the most heinous crimes against women imaginable” after receiving a text message saying that Bryant was on a dating app. After initially dismissing it as a joke or political bluster, she later confronted him and was given access to his phone, she said. What she discovered in his possession “shocked me to my core,” she said, including a video of herself undressed and unaware she was being filmed, along with a trove of videos and photographs of other women, including some of Bryant’s employees.
She also accused Bryant of physically assaulting her, saying the incident occurred a week after she found the contents of his phone, and she left the next day and went into hiding. “I still have the mark that Patrick Bryant made on me the night that he assaulted me,” Mace said. “I will wear this mark that he made on me for the rest of my life as a badge of honor.”
Mace also described being raped by an unknown person in 2022 at a property owned by Bryant and a business associate on the Isle of Palms in South Carolina, where she said she blacked out after two drinks, with only “flashes” of memory remaining. “I believe that they purposely incapacitated me. Was anyone else there, was it filmed, was it sold on the dark web? I have no idea, but I know what these men do to their victims,” she said.