Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) says she was attacked earlier this week at a youth foster agency; Witnesses say it was just a handshake.
Whatever the truth, the South Carolina Republican would certainly be a lot happier if the media stopped reporting about it.
Mace told far-right influencer Benny Johnson on Thursday that she believes the reporting amounts to defamation, and warned that media outlets reporting the story better be on their guard.
“I have a warning for any media outlet that says I wrongly accused this man of physically assaulting me, of assault,” she told Johnson.
“That’s slander. And so I’d be walking on eggshells if I were you,” she said, giggling.
The congresswoman also accused anyone who disputes her characterization of the interaction of “victim shaming.”
“This man came in for what I thought would be a friendly handshake, and I know the difference between a passionate handshake and a violent handshake, and here I am today with an injury as a result of it,” she said.
Mace also shared a photo of herself wearing a bracelet and braces on social media on Thursday. The photo was immediately ridiculed by Natalie Johnson, a former Mace employee, who called it “a pathetic ploy for attention.”
“This is the same woman who told staff, including myself, on January 6 that she wanted to get ‘slapped in the face’ by a rioter so she could be on TV,” Johnson said on X, formerly Twitter.
Although Mace says she was “physically accosted,” witnesses speculate that it was what James McIntyre, the man who shook her hand, said – and not how he acted – that confused Mace.
McIntyre, the co-founder of a foster care advocacy group, reportedly told Mace, “trans youth are foster youth too, and they need your support.”
Elliott Hinkle, an advocate for foster youth and a consultant on foster issues who attended the event, told The Washington Post that McIntyre reached out with both hands to shake Mace’s hand as he delivered his message. Mace has become increasingly fixated on anti-trans legislation.
“It did not appear to be an attack or intended aggression,” Hinkle said.
Capitol Police arrested the 33-year-old after the incident. McIntyre, co-founder of the Illinois chapter of Foster Care Alumni of America who was named Public Citizen Of The Year by the Illinois chapter of the National Association of Social Workers in 2019, has pleaded not guilty.
