Rep. Nancy Mace accused her ex-fiancé and three enterprise companions of committing “depraved” sexual crimes towards herself and a dozen different girls — together with underage ladies — 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 accidentally uncovered some of the most heinous crimes against women imaginable — we are talking about rape, nonconsensual photos, nonconsensual videos of women and underage girls, and the premeditated, calculated, exploitation of women and girls in my district,” Mace stated in her Home ground speech.
“Today you will hear about the depraved men behind these gutless, evil acts,” she added. “These men didn’t just harm their victims; they recorded their depravity as if it were a badge of honor.”
The digital recordsdata Mace claims she found in November 2023 included nonconsensual photographs of “female employees, wives of male employees, girlfriends and other women who very clearly didn’t know their private parts were being filmed or photographed,” the congresswoman stated, together with “upskirt photos” of no less than one underage woman who was the daughter of a enterprise affiliate.
“Last year, I had to tell a woman that she’d been raped, and she didn’t even know 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” girl.
“She had no idea because she was incapacitated at the time of the rape,” Mace stated. “I knew she was raped because I accidentally found the video of her being raped.”
“The two of them, the three of them business partners, the two of them had their phones out just like this. Filming her as she was being raped. And she was completely laid out. There was no movement. There was no life. I couldn’t even tell if this young woman was alive.”
Mace, who introduced no proof throughout her remarks, is shielded from potential legal prosecution and civil lawsuits by the Structure’s speech and debate clause, which supplies lawmakers with immunity for “acts taken within the legislative sphere.”
The congresswoman claims she informed the state legal professional normal’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 mild — and that South Carolina Lawyer Basic Alan Wilson didn’t probe the act as witness intimidation regardless of apparently opening an investigation into the intercourse crime allegations.
Bryant denied Mace’s allegations in an announcement to the New York Instances.
“I categorically deny these allegations,” he stated. “I take this matter seriously and will cooperate fully with any necessary legal processes to clear my name.”
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 volume to hear if there was audio. I heard my voice. I zoomed in on the video. The woman was me,” Mace revealed. “My entire body paralyzed, and I couldn’t move.”
After making the terrifying discovery, she claimed that Bryant “physically assaulted” her and he or she was pressured out of her residence and “into hiding” the next month, transferring in with pals and altering tackle no less than 4 occasions in a single 12 months.
“I still have the mark Patrick Bryant made on me. Rather than see this mark as a scar, I see this scar as the mark of a free woman; free from a monster,” Mace additionally stated, disclosing that she had since been recognized with post-traumatic stress dysfunction.
“This isn’t a story about bitter ex-girlfriends … or consensual sex tapes, there are plenty of those. I don’t care what two consenting adults agree to do. That is the definition of freedom. This is a story about predators who hunt women 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 failed to protect” feminine victims.
“If anyone would like to arrest me for standing up for women — here are my wrists. Arrest me. Take me to jail,” she threatened. “I am 100% guilty for 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 whole heck of a lot more and more crimes I don’t have time to get into tonight.”
“South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson — you are not a real man because real men, real men protect women,” she stated with scorn.
Wilson’s workplace described Mace’s statements concerning the conduct of the South Carolina legal professional normal as “categorically false” and “politically motivated.”
“Ms. Mace either does not understand or is purposefully mischaracterizing the role of the Attorney General. 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,” learn an announcement from the South Carolina AG’s workplace.
“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 cellphone number. Not once has she approached or reached out to him regarding any of her concerns,” the assertion continued.
The AG’s workplace famous that it will be as much as native legislation enforcement companies to analyze potential proof of a criminal offense.
Bryant and two of his alleged enterprise companions that Mace referenced, John Osborne and Eric Bowman, didn’t reply to The Publish’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 statement tonight is a dangerous mix of falsehoods and baseless accusations, recklessly leveled at four individuals without a shred of evidence,” he informed The Publish.
“Her continued pattern of making inflammatory claims without proof is not only reckless but a blatant attempt to weaponize the legal system for political and personal gain,” Musgrave added.
Mace, 47, cited no less than a dozen items of laws she had authored to crack down on intercourse offenders and protect 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 are still roaming the streets of South Carolina, and our chief law enforcement officer, Attorney General Alan Wilson, knows it,” the Republican pol stated.
“None of this is conjecture. These are not allegations. These are facts. It is documented,” Mace stated of her claims.
