Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) says she was assaulted at a foster youth advocacy event earlier this week; witnesses say it was just a handshake.
Whatever the truth, the South Carolina Republican sure would be a lot happier if the media stopped reporting on it.
Mace told far-right influencer Benny Johnson Thursday she believes the reporting amounts to defamation, and warned that media outlets covering the story better watch their backs.
“I have a warning for any media outlet that says I wrongly, falsely accused this guy of physically accosting me, of assaulting me,” she told Johnson.
“That is defamation. And so I would be walking on eggshells if I were you,” she said with a giggle.
The congresswoman also accused anyone who disputes her characterization of the interaction of “victim-shaming.”
“This guy came in for what I thought was going to be a friendly handshake, and I know the difference between a passionate handshake and a violent one, and here I sit here today with an injury from it,” she said.
Mace also shared a photo of herself wearing an arm sling and a brace on social media Thursday. The photo was immediately ridiculed by Natalie Johnson, a former Mace staffer, who called it “a pathetic ploy for attention.”
“This is the same woman who told staff, myself included, during Jan. 6 that she wanted to get ‘punched in the face’ by a rioter so she could get on TV,” Johnson said on X, formerly Twitter.
While Mace says she was “physically accosted,” witnesses speculate it’s what James McIntyre, the man who shook her hand, said ― not how he acted ― that set Mace off.
McIntyre, the co-founder of a foster care advocacy group, reportedly told Mace, “trans youth are also foster youth, and they need your support.”
Elliott Hinkle, a foster youth advocate and consultant on foster issues who was at the event, told The Washington Post that McIntyre reached out with both hands to shake Mace’s hand while delivering his message. Mace has become increasingly fixated on anti-trans legislation.
“It didn’t look like an assault or intended aggression,” Hinkle said.
Capitol Police arrested the 33-year-old after the incident. McIntyre, a co-founder of the Illinois chapter of Foster Care Alumni of America who was named “Public Citizen Of The Year” in 2019 by the Illinois chapter of the National Association Of Social Workers, has pleaded not guilty.
