Mace Accuses Four Men of Rape, Sexual Abuse in Stunning House Speech

WASHINGTON — Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., gave a nearly hour-long speech on the House floor on Monday night in which she accused her ex-fiancé and three other South Carolina men of rape, sexual abuse and voyeurism against herself and multiple other women.

“Today I am going scorched earth,” Mace said as she rose to speak next to a placard bearing the number of a Charleston, South Carolina, victim hotline (843-212-7048). “Let the bridges I burn this evening light our way forward.”

“You have bought yourself a one-way ticket to hell. It is nonstop, there are no connections, so I and all your victims can watch you rot in eternity,” Mace said, addressing the four men directly as an aid changed the placard to one showing photographs, names and hometowns of the four men.

“Today is about justice. Truth has a way of rising, no matter how deeply you try to bury it,” she continued. “Tonight is about the truth; the painful, the cold, the hard truth,” the lawmaker said.

“Today I will free other women from a group of men who committed the most evil acts against them,” Mace continued. “I want every woman and girl in the country to know, you have a friend and you have a sister in me. I will fight like hell for you every day of the week. 

“We must never tolerate abusers masquerading as men of character. Abuse doesn’t discriminate. Abuse doesn’t care if you are Republican or if you’re a Democrat. Abuse doesn’t care who you are or where you come from, or how strong you are, or what title you hold,” she said.

“I’m living proof that even as a member of Congress, I found myself face to face with the darkest corners of humanity,” she added.

With Reps. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., and Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., seated behind her for moral support, Mace described how the road to her speech, which she titled “Iron Sharpens Iron,” began on Oct. 30, 2023.

That night, she said, she received a text message that included screenshots suggesting her then-fiancé Patrick Bryant, the CEO and partner of a software development firm based in Charleston, was active on a dating app.

“In South Carolina, politics is a blood sport. I thought this was your usual, run-of-the-mill, political game. I thought it was a joke,” Mace said.

But, she said, when she confronted Bryant about it days later, he responded by taking his phone and locking it in a safe.

“It was so confusing. I didn’t understand,” she said.

Eventually, Mace said, Bryant gave her unfettered access to both the safe and his phone.

“What I discovered shocked me to my core,” she said.

With that, Mace set forth a steady stream of allegations against the four men. It should be noted that no criminal charges have been filed against them at this point, and that Mace herself enjoys protection from prosecution for her statements under a constitutional provision known as the “speech or debate clause.”

That provision protects statements made by a lawmaker while they are performing their legislative duties.

In a press release about her speech, Mace acknowledged the provision, saying “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.”

Because Mace didn’t offer evidence to complement her statements, The Well News won’t name the three other men she accused of heinous acts at this time. We’re naming Bryant only because he immediately issued a statement, denying her allegations.

“I categorically deny these allegations. I take this matter seriously and will cooperate fully with any necessary legal processes to clear my name,” Bryant said.

Mace said as she looked at the photos and videos on Bryant’s cell phone, she saw images of clearly incapacitated women being sexually exploited and of a teenage girl in “the kind of underwear” a child would wear” who “looked scared and nervous.”

“I saw another video of another woman who was undressed, clearly on a camera, unaware she was being filmed,” Mace said.

“She was slender and she had long, brown hair. I turned up the volume to hear if there was audio. … and I heard my voice. I zoomed in on the video, and that woman was me,” she said.

“My entire body was paralyzed, and I couldn’t move. Were my feet still on the floor? Was I breathing? I have no idea. I could feel pain shooting out of my heart, out of my chest … Time was suspended for a moment. This monster stole my body without my permission, without my knowledge and without my consent.”

Eventually, she said, she discovered at least one of the hidden cameras used to film the scenes and an app that contained 10,633 illicit videos.

From those, she said, it was clear to her that the four men were sexual predators who collaborated on several occasions to victimize women and keep recordings of their activities.

And one night, in 2022, she said she became a victim herself.

She recalled being at the home of one of the men on the Isle of Palms, an exclusive enclave just outside of Charleston, and being served “two small vodka sodas.”

“A short time later, I blacked out. I have never blacked out after having a vodka soda or any adult beverage,” Mace said.

She said as she investigated the images and videos she’d discovered, she heard similar stories from other women.

“Now, my memories of that night are just flashes, in and out of the dark,” she said. “But I was raped that night. And 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.”

At one point, as she continued to make allegation after allegation, Mace pulled out a pair of handcuffs, one of several props she used to illustrate her statements.

Others included a phone, a small safe, a drinking glass and the tiny camera she said was hidden on a property owned by one of the men.

“I brought handcuffs with me today,” she said. “If anyone would like to arrest me for standing up for women, here are my wrists. Arrest me. Take me to jail because I am 100% guilty of turning over evidence of Peeping Toms, of turning over evidence of rape, of turning over evidence of voyeurism, of turning over evidence of sex trafficking, and, who knows, probably a heck of a lot more crimes I don’t have time to get into tonight.”

She capped her allegations by accusing Bryant of physically assaulting her after she confronted him over additional videos she’d found.

“That morning, I, as a member of Congress, fled my home and I went into hiding,” she said.

She went on to say she still bears a mark from the incident.

“I see this as the mark of a free woman, free from a monster; I will wear this mark that he made on me for the rest of my life as a badge of honor,” she said.

Mace also spoke at length about South Carolina’s Republican attorney general, Alan Wilson, whom she may face in a Republican primary, if, as has been widely discussed, they both decide to run for governor of South Carolina in 2026.

The congresswoman accused the state’s top prosecutor of taking more than seven months to even express an interest in her case after she brought the photos and videos to state authorities.

“South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, you’re not a real man, because real men protect women,” she said, adding, “I have no respect for anyone who treats women and victims the way you do.”

At another point in her remarks, Mace vowed to “burn this system to the ground if I have to.”

Following Mace’s speech, the attorney general’s spokesman, Robert Kittle, rejected Mace’s claims about his boss’s conduct, calling her allegations about him “categorically false.”

“Ms. Mace either does not understand or is purposefully mischaracterizing the role of the attorney general,” the statement said. “At this time, our office has not received any reports or requests for assistance from any law enforcement or prosecution agencies regarding these matters. 

“Additionally, the attorney general and members of his office have had no role and no knowledge of these allegations until her public statements,” it continued.

“Congresswoman Mace and the attorney general have been at multiple events together over the last six months. She also has the attorney general’s personal cell phone number. Not once has she approached or reached out to him regarding any of her concerns,” the statement said.

“Regarding her claim that the attorney general refused to receive evidence of a crime from a victim’s attorney, it is important to clarify that the attorney general is the chief prosecutor. For this reason, the attorney general would always direct any citizen to provide evidence of a crime to the appropriate law enforcement agency, which would be responsible for the investigation,” it said in conclusion.

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, also known as SLED, confirmed Monday that it is indeed conducting an active investigation into Mace’s allegations.

“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 Renee 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.

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