On May 12, 2025, Nancy Mace filed a defamation complaint against Eric Bernard Bowman in Charleston County (No. 2025-CP-10-02733). The suit is Mace's, and its allegations are hers. But by attaching Bowman's posts as exhibits and quoting them in the body, the complaint placed both her House-floor conduct and the accusations against her into a public court record.

On the floor speech, Mace's own pleading states:

"On February 10, 2025, Rep. Mace … gave a powerful speech from the House floor. In delivering this speech, Rep. Mace identified herself as the victim of sexual violence and assault … During her speech, Rep. Mace identified four individuals whom she understood to have taken part in or been aware of wrongdoing."

The complaint then reproduces the statements by Bowman that Mace alleges are false and defamatory. (They are Bowman's contentions, quoted by Mace so she can sue over them; nothing here treats them as true.) Among the posts the complaint quotes:

"@NancyMace has engaged in illegal hacking, disseminating classified information, embezzling public funds, and steering VA contracts to her close associates … blackmailed, conspired, and lied to law enforcement."

"Just as she betrayed [Speaker McCarthy], [Nikki Haley], her ex-staffers, her own sister, her ex-fiancé, and her former chief of staff, Daniel Hanlon … she's now destroying innocent men with zero evidence, zero charges."

The complaint also quotes Bowman tying Mace to specific VA contractors and asking, on the day of a Harvard appearance, that she be confronted with: "What contracts did you assist @MelissaBritton in securing in your role as a member of the VA Technology Subcommittee?" and "How much money hit your account in February and why was it the same week you went public with your sex claims?" Mace's complaint flatly rejects the substance of all of it as "objectively and demonstrably false."

Two points the filing makes unavoidable for Mace. First, her own complaint confirms she used congressional floor privilege to name private individuals ("identified four individuals") in connection with alleged crimes. Second, to sue over Bowman's words she had to enter them into the record, so the lawsuit she chose to bring is itself the reason the accusations are now a permanent, searchable public document. Bowman denies liability and contends his statements are protected; that dispute is unresolved.

Source: Congresswoman Nancy R. Mace v. Eric Bernard Bowman, Charleston County Court of Common Pleas, No. 2025-CP-10-02733 — Complaint (Defamation Per Se), filed May 12, 2025. Public record via the S.C. Judicial Branch Public Index. See also Eric Bowman.