Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) showed a blurry screenshot of her “naked silhouette” that she said was recorded without her consent during a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee hearing she chaired on surveillance in private spaces on Tuesday.
The hearing was the latest instance of Mace using the position of her office in a highly unusual way to amplify accusations of against her ex-fiancé and his business associates, who have denied wrongdoing.
“Freedom is not a theory. It is the right to breathe. It is the right to dress and undress, to sleep without someone’s camera filming your naked body. The Founders wrote liberty in parchment, but hidden cameras erase it in pixels,” Mace said. “I speak not just as a lawmaker, but as a survivor.”
Displayed behind the congresswoman was a poster board showing a wide-angle security camera view of a living room, with a blurred human figure appearing to come out of a doorway — an image that she teased ahead of time with a post on X saying that she would be “going there” to “show my naked body” captured on one of the videos.
“Behind me is a screenshot from one of the videos I found of myself. The yellow circle, my naked silhouette, is my naked body,” Mace said. “I didn’t know that I had been filmed. I didn’t give my consent. I didn’t give my permission.”
She urged lawmakers to advance her Sue VOYEURS Act to create a civil right of action and the Stop VOYEERS Act to expand the federal prohibition on video voyeurism.
Mace first alleged that the men made and kept secretly-recorded videos of women and girls, including herself, through hidden cameras placed at a rental property co-owned by her ex-fiancé in a stunning House floor speech in February. Some of her allegations extended to more serious crimes like sexual assault.
Mace went on to show censored intimate photos of other women who were filmed and photographed purportedly without their knowledge — some of whom, she said, had given Mace permission to show the photos — while pointing fingers at the men.
Mace’s ex-fiancé, Patrick Bryant, denied Mace’s allegations in a lengthy statement to The Hill.
“I categorically deny the false and outrageous claims made by Nancy Mace. I have never raped anyone. I have never hidden cameras. I have never harmed any woman. These accusations are not just false—they are malicious and deeply personal,” Bryant said. “My mistake was loving and trusting someone who later weaponized our relationship.”
One of the individuals she named in her original floor speech has sued Mace for defamation. Mace’s office has previously pointed out that the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause shields lawmakers against lawsuits for things they say and do as part of their legislative work.
Bryan pointed to that legal protection, too, while pushing back on Mace.
“If she believed them to be true and there was evidence to support her accusations, she would say them outside the chamber—away from her public role and protections and pursue them through proper legal channels. She has not done so, because she cannot,” Bryant said, adding that witnesses have provided testimony and statements countering her version of events and that he has complied with a South Carolina Law Enforcement Division investigation into the matter.
“This isn’t advocacy. It’s an abuse and exploitation of her political position for the sole purpose of promoting herself politically. Her allegations are absolutely baseless,” Bryant said. “And, I will, at the right time, do whatever is necessary and appropriate to clear my name, to prove my integrity, and to restore my reputation in the community.”
Asked about Bryant saying she should make her allegations in spaces where she is not protected by the Constitution’s speech or debate clause, Mace told The Hill: “I don’t really give a f--- what Patrick Bryant has to say.”
And she defended her decision to use her office to amplify her personal story.
“I’ve written over a dozen bills to protect women and kids, based on my experiences, both personally but also working with victims for the last year and a half, and it has informed my legislative process,” Mace told The Hill. “When I went through this, I surely thought the Violence Against Women Act had provisions to protect victims of voyeurism. It didn't. There's not even a civil tort in the Violence Against Women Act for women who are victims of voyeurism.”
In the hearing room, Mace got support from other lawmakers.
“I’m very sorry about your experience and I hope you are able to find justice,” said Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.). Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) said she hoped Mace’s efforts “bring justice to the victims and yourself.” And Rep. Eli Crane (R-Ariz.) echoed, “I apologize for what you went through and I do hope you get justice.”
Rep. Shontel Brown (D-Ohio), ranking member on the subcommittee, did not directly speak to Mace’s claims but started her remarks in recognition of “the strength of women who come forward to share their experiences with abuse and violations and privacy.”
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