Part of: Assignment Desk Works, LLC v. Alexis Berg · Musgrave v. Mace (2:25-cv-01823-RMG) · Litigation Overview & Court-Filing Index
Solicitor Kevin Brackett: Without Her House Floor Protection, Mace "Would Have and Should Have Been Sued Into Bankruptcy"
In an August 21, 2026 letter to Ninth Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson, copied to a State Law Enforcement Division captain and published October 14, 2026 by FITSNews and ABC News 4, Sixteenth Judicial Circuit Solicitor Kevin S. Brackett wrote that had Rep. Nancy Mace not been speaking on the House floor and protected from civil liability by the Constitution, she "would have and should have been sued into bankruptcy." He also wrote that "there is not one speck of evidence that substantiates any of the reckless accusations she made against Mr. Musgrave" and that he wondered whether Mace would "muster a sufficient sense of shame to compel an apology." Brian Musgrave denies Mace's accusations and has not been charged. A solicitor's letter is a prosecutor's review, not a court finding.
"Had Ms. Mace not been speaking as a Member of Congress on the floor of the House of Representatives and protected from civil liability by the United States Constitution, she would have and should have been sued into bankruptcy."
That is Kevin S. Brackett, Solicitor of South Carolina's Sixteenth Judicial Circuit, in an August 21, 2026 letter to Ninth Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson, with a copy to Capt. Haley Nelson of the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED). It is the fourth paragraph of a two-page letter that FITSNews and ABC News 4 published on October 14, 2026. The sentence continues on page 2: "Sadly, there will be no redress for this injury to Mr. Musgrave's reputation."
The letter is about Brian Musgrave, the Fort Mill man Rep. Nancy Mace named from the House floor on February 10, 2025 among men she called predators. Musgrave denies her accusations. Brackett writes that he has reviewed SLED's investigation, has read Wilson's letter and a letter from Fourteenth Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone, and writes "I concur fully in both." He says he felt the need to elaborate on one aspect.
Reporting credit: the letter was published by FITSNews (Will Folks) and by ABC News 4 / WACH (Perrin Moore). Both reported Brackett's words, including the "sued into bankruptcy" sentence. Maceopedia's page images below are the pages as those outlets published them, with their watermark.
The 48-second cut below plays Mace's own words from her February 10, 2025 House floor speech with Brackett's sentences and crops of his letter on screen.
Footage: Rep. Nancy Mace's official YouTube channel (House floor, February 10, 2025). Letter via FITSNews and ABC News 4. The solicitor's words are shown on screen as written; the speech captions are Mace's own words. Edited and captioned by Maceopedia.
What Brackett wrote
Brackett is blunt about what he says the investigation did and did not find. Every line below is his characterization, quoted from the letter.
- On evidence: "there is not one speck of evidence that substantiates any of the reckless accusations she made against Mr. Musgrave and that he is completely innocent of these outrageous claims."
- On what Mace could have seen: "the investigation reveals nothing whatsoever that she could have seen that may have justified her making these terrible accusations in the first place."
- On the floor: "Had Ms. Mace not been speaking as a Member of Congress on the floor of the House of Representatives and protected from civil liability by the United States Constitution, she would have and should have been sued into bankruptcy."
- On redress: "Sadly, there will be no redress for this injury to Mr. Musgrave's reputation. I wonder whether, in light of the investigation and our findings, Ms. Mace will muster a sufficient sense of shame to compel an apology to him. Time will tell."
- On the letter itself: "I felt compelled to write and share my own, justified outrage at her treatment of him. Hopefully this can serve, in some small way, to repair the damage done and provide a lasting testament to the unjustness of the injury done to Mr. Musgrave, and the utter falsity of the allegations that accomplished it."
The letter, shown
Page 1, as published by FITSNews. The "sued into bankruptcy" sentence is in the fourth paragraph; "not one speck of evidence" is in the paragraph above it. In that paragraph the letter spells Musgrave's first name "Bryan." Click for full size.
Page 2: "I wonder whether, in light of the investigation and our findings, Ms. Mace will muster a sufficient sense of shame to compel an apology to him. Time will tell." Click for full size.
The filing itself: Brackett letter to Solicitor Wilson, August 21, 2026 (PDF, 2 pages, as published by FITSNews). The letter is unredacted as published; Maceopedia has not altered or added to it.
Kevin S. Brackett, Solicitor, Sixteenth Judicial Circuit. Official portrait, South Carolina Commission on Prosecution Coordination.
The speech Brackett is writing about
Brackett's sentence turns on where Mace was standing. On February 10, 2025 she delivered a House floor speech of close to an hour, and in it she named Musgrave. The 48-second cut above is her own voice from that speech: "These men aren't just criminals. They are predators." Musgrave denies her accusations.
Musgrave then sued Mace for defamation in federal court. On August 20, 2025, U.S. District Judge Richard M. Gergel granted the Westfall Act substitution of the United States for Mace and dismissed the case with prejudice. His order states that the Court "offers no opinion concerning the truthfulness or the lack of truthfulness of allegations made by Defendant Mace in her House speech." The ruling was about whether Mace was acting within the scope of her office, not about whether her accusation is true. Brackett's letter describes the protection in constitutional terms; the order the court actually issued rested on the Westfall Act. The full account is at Brian Musgrave Sued Nancy Mace. The Court Threw It Out., and the case hub is Musgrave v. Mace. Background on Musgrave is at Brian Musgrave.
Where this stands
- A solicitor's letter is not a court finding. Brackett is a prosecutor writing to a fellow prosecutor about a law enforcement investigation. No court has ruled on whether Mace's accusation is true or false.
- Musgrave denies the accusations and has not been charged in connection with them. His lawyer, Ronnie Richter, told ABC News 4 that his client was "fully vindicated" and that they are "still hoping for an apology from Rep. Mace."
- Mace has maintained her position publicly. On October 14, 2026, the day the letters were published, her office issued a release titled "Rep. Nancy Mace Doubles Down on Protecting Survivors and Holding Predators Accountable." In it she says: "Every predator deserves accountability." The release does not mention Musgrave or the solicitors' letters. We found no statement from Mace addressing Brackett's letter as of this page's publication; if she responds, it belongs here.
The other two solicitor letters
Brackett says he concurs fully in the other two. Maceopedia covers each one on its own page:
- Ninth Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson, in an August 14, 2026 memorandum to SLED, wrote that Mace's "credibility would be thoroughly undermined by her false allegations against Mr. Musgrave": Solicitor Wilson: Mace's Credibility "Thoroughly Undermined".
- Fourteenth Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone, in an August 18, 2026 letter to Capt. Nelson, wrote that Mace "made many allegations to law enforcement and to the public that have turned out to not be true": Solicitor Duffie Stone to SLED: Mace's Allegations Have "Turned Out to Not Be True".
Each of those characterizations belongs to the solicitor who wrote it.
Sources and related coverage
The letter:
- The filing itself: Brackett letter, August 21, 2026 (PDF)
- FITSNews, Will Folks, October 14, 2026
- ABC News 4 / WACH, Perrin Moore, October 14, 2026
Mace's response that day:
The dismissal of Musgrave's suit:
- Order, Musgrave v. Mace, Dkt. 43, August 20, 2025 (CourtListener)
- FITSNews, Jenn Wood, August 20, 2025
- The Hill: Judge tosses Nancy Mace defamation lawsuit
Related on Maceopedia: Musgrave v. Mace, Brian Musgrave, Solicitor Wilson, Solicitor Stone.
Read next
October 16, 2026 · DispatchSolicitor Duffie Stone to SLED: Mace's Allegations Have "Turned Out to Not Be True"
In an August 18, 2026 letter to a State Law Enforcement Division captain, published October 14, 2026 by FITSNews and ABC News 4, Fourteenth Judicial Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone wrote that Rep. Nancy Mace "made many allegations to law enforcement and to the public that have turned out to not be true," and that her public statements branding Brian Musgrave a predator, a rapist and a human trafficker came when she "offered neither evidence nor even suspicions to law enforcement to justify her comments." Musgrave has not been charged. The letter is a prosecutor's review, not a court finding, and is partly redacted as published.
October 11, 2026 · DispatchBrian Musgrave Sued Nancy Mace. The Court Threw It Out.
Brian Musgrave, one of the four men Nancy Mace named in her February 10, 2025 House floor speech, filed two defamation suits. The first, against Mace, was dismissed with prejudice on August 20, 2025 after the United States was substituted for her under the Westfall Act; the judge wrote that 'Plaintiff has no civil remedy to hold accountable persons he believes have defamed him' and that the court 'offers no opinion concerning the truthfulness or the lack of truthfulness' of her allegations. The second, against OAN's parent company and the Louder with Crowder podcast, produced a September 30, 2026 order: the parent company was dismissed without prejudice for lack of personal jurisdiction, and the podcast defendants won summary judgment because their statements were not susceptible to a defamatory meaning as to Musgrave. Neither court decided whether Mace's accusations are true. Musgrave denies them. Mace denies wrongdoing.
October 15, 2026 · DispatchSolicitor Scarlett Wilson to SLED: Mace's Credibility "Would Be Thoroughly Undermined"
In an August 14, 2026 Memorandum of Review to SLED, published October 14 by FITSNews and ABC News 4, Ninth Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson wrote that Rep. Nancy Mace's credibility 'would be thoroughly undermined by her false allegations against Mr. Musgrave.' Wilson also wrote that her review offers 'zero evidence' against Brian Musgrave and that Solicitors Duffie Stone and Kevin Brackett 'concur with my assessments.' Musgrave denies Mace's accusations and has not been charged. The letters are prosecutors' reviews, not court findings. Mace has not publicly addressed them.
October 17, 2026 · DispatchEXCLUSIVE: Brian Musgrave Speaks to ABC News 4 After Three Prosecutors Clear Him
In an exclusive interview with ABC News 4 (WCIV), Brian Musgrave describes learning from a reporter's text, while driving to buy birdseed, that Rep. Nancy Mace had named him in her February 10, 2025 House floor speech, and what it was like to read the letters of three South Carolina solicitors. Solicitor Kevin Brackett wrote that there is “not one speck of evidence that substantiates any of the reckless accusations she made against Mr. Musgrave and that he is completely innocent of these outrageous claims.” Solicitor Scarlett Wilson wrote of “the lack of even a scintilla of evidence.” Solicitor Duffie Stone wrote that Mace offered “neither evidence nor even suspicions.” Musgrave’s federal suit against Mace was dismissed on August 20, 2025 on immunity grounds, and the court offered no opinion on whether her allegations were true. ABC News 4 reported that Mace has offered no apology. The interview is ABC News 4’s, by Madison Wilber, Oct. 16, 2026.
October 17, 2026 · DispatchPatrick Bryant at ABC News 4: Brian Musgrave Is “Completely Exonerated”
On Oct. 16, 2026, Patrick Bryant gave a statement at the ABC News 4 studio about his friend Brian Musgrave, a day after the station reported three solicitors' letters on Rep. Nancy Mace's accusations against Musgrave. Bryant said Musgrave has been “completely exonerated of any wrongdoing” and that the allegations were “completely baseless.” Those are Bryant's words. The letters are prosecutors' reviews, not court findings. Musgrave denies Mace's accusations and has not been charged. Mace denies wrongdoing.
October 15, 2026 · Dispatch"She Would Have and Should Have Been Sued Into Bankruptcy": Three South Carolina Prosecutors on Nancy Mace's Accusations Against Brian Musgrave
Three of South Carolina's senior prosecutors reviewed the state investigation of Rep. Nancy Mace's accusations, and each wrote, in a letter now public, that her public accusations against Brian Musgrave lacked evidence. Ninth Circuit Solicitor Scarlett Wilson called them 'spurious claims' resting on 'the lack of even a scintilla of evidence' (Aug. 14, 2026). Fourteenth Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone wrote that her statements 'branding Brian Musgrave a predator, a rapist, and a human trafficker are shocking' (Aug. 18). Sixteenth Circuit Solicitor Kevin Brackett wrote that 'there is not one speck of evidence' and that, had she not been protected by the Constitution, she 'would have and should have been sued into bankruptcy' (Aug. 21). FITSNews and ABC News 4 published the letters on Oct. 14, 2026. The letters are shown here. Musgrave has always denied the accusations. Mace has not retracted them.