WASHINGTON (CBS) — An Illinois man was arrested Tuesday evening on charges of attacking Republican Rep. Nancy Mace on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
U.S. Capitol Police said James McIntyre, 33, is charged with assault on a public official. It was not specified where McIntyre was from in Illinois.
Capitol Police said they tracked down McIntyre after a member of Congress reported an incident in the Rayburn House office building. McIntyre was arrested after an investigative interview, Capitol Police said.
The Rayburn House office building was open at the time of the incident and McIntyre had undergone a security clearance, Capitol Police said.
Earlier Tuesday evening, the South Carolina congresswoman posted on social media that she was “physically accosted” on the Capitol grounds. Mace wrote in the post that she might need a brace for her wrist and ice for her arm, but that she would be fine.
Mace also insinuated in the post that the attack had something to do with her stance on trans issues, but Capitol Police did not confirm a possible motive.
Last month, Mace introduced legislation to change House rules to ban transgender women from using women’s restrooms and other facilities on Capitol Hill — in a proposal that came just before the House was ready to take its first oath openly transgender member of Congress.
Mace’s two-page resolution would ban members, officers and employees of the House of Representatives from using single-sex facilities in the Capitol or House of Representatives office buildings that do not correspond to their “biological sex.” Her proposal claims that allowing “biological males” into women’s restrooms, locker rooms and changing rooms “endangers the safety and dignity” of female lawmakers, officers and Capitol Hill employees.
Mace’s legislation appeared to target Representative-elect Sarah McBride of Delaware, who became president first openly transgender person elected to Congress when she won the race for the state’s lone seat in the state House of Representatives last month.
