Part of: Mace vs. the Solicitor: the campaign against the prosecutor in her own cases (2025) · Musgrave v. Mace (2:25-cv-01823-RMG)
Solicitor 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.
"Without question, however, should Nancy Mace be called as a witness at trial in a prosecution stemming from any of the allegations in your report, her credibility would be thoroughly undermined by her false allegations against Mr. Musgrave."
That is Scarlett Wilson, the Solicitor (chief prosecutor) of South Carolina's Ninth Judicial Circuit, in a Memorandum of Review to Captain Haley Nelson of the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED), dated August 14, 2026, page 3. SLED file number 11-23-0312. The memo is Wilson's written review of SLED's report on the allegations Rep. Nancy Mace made in her February 10, 2025 House floor speech. Brian Musgrave, one of the four men Mace named in that speech, denies her accusation.
Reporting credit: The memo became public on October 14, 2026, when FITSNews (Will Folks) and ABC News 4 / WACH (Perrin Moore) published it. The pages below are the copies those outlets published, with their redactions and the FITSNews watermark untouched.
The 74-second cut. Mace's own words come from her official House floor video, February 10, 2025. Wilson's lines are quoted from the memo as published. The ABC News 4 (WCIV) and Live 5 News (WCSC) clips are from their August 2025 reports on the federal ruling. The full cut is also on the Maceopedia YouTube channel.
What Wilson wrote about Mace and Musgrave
Wilson opens her review of the Musgrave section on page 2. Every line below is quoted from the memo:
- "Your report offers zero evidence that Mr. Musgrave committed any crime because zero evidence was presented to you."
- "Despite the lack of even a scintilla of evidence against Mr. Musgrave, Mace publicly labeled him a criminal and a predator."
- "Nothing in this investigation supports any of Mace's smears against Mr. Musgrave."
- "The federal courts have found Ms. Mace immune from responsibility for these defamatory accusations."
- And the line above: "her credibility would be thoroughly undermined by her false allegations against Mr. Musgrave."
On page 2 Wilson also wrote that Mace's "spurious claims against him demonstrate the severe credibility complications that taint some of the evidence underlying other allegations."
Three lines from the memo, each quoted word for word. Portrait: official Solicitor portrait, SC Commission on Prosecution Coordination.
The pages, as published
Page 1 of the memo as published: the Introduction. Click for full size.
Page 2: the Musgrave section, including the "zero evidence" and "scintilla" paragraphs. Click for full size.
Page 3: the lead quote is the last sentence of the first paragraph. The rest of the page is redacted as published. Click for full size.
An 18-page memo, almost entirely redacted
The memo runs 18 pages. As published, it is almost entirely redacted after page 3. Page 4 is shown as an example, and the Conclusion on page 18 is shown below it.
Page 4 as published, fully redacted. Most of the pages after page 3 look like this. Click for full size.
Page 18, the Conclusion. Click for full size.
The filing itself: Memorandum of Review, Scarlett A. Wilson to Capt. Haley Nelson, August 14, 2026 (PDF, 18 pages, as published, hosted here).
Who Wilson is, and what her memo is
Wilson is the Solicitor for the Ninth Judicial Circuit, which covers Charleston and Berkeley counties. See her Maceopedia profile. In the memo she wrote that South Carolina law "does not provide a role for Solicitors in criminal investigations" and that solicitors "have no authority or control over law enforcement personnel or resources." SLED sent her the report for "review." She wrote that she was "relying upon SLED's evaluation and reporting."
That is why the memo is a prosecutor's assessment of a report, not a court finding. Wilson also wrote that she consulted "the seniormost Solicitors in South Carolina: Solicitor Duffie Stone of the Fourteenth Judicial Circuit and Solicitor Kevin Brackett of the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit. They concur with my assessments."
The other two letters
Stone and Brackett each wrote their own letter to SLED on the same file. FITSNews and ABC News 4 published both on October 14, 2026.
- Isaac McDuffie (Duffie) Stone III, Fourteenth Circuit Solicitor, letter to Capt. Nelson dated August 18, 2026, three pages, partly redacted as published: PDF, hosted here.
- Kevin S. Brackett, Sixteenth Circuit Solicitor, letter to Wilson with a copy to Capt. Nelson dated August 21, 2026, two pages: PDF, hosted here.
Where things stand
- Musgrave has not been charged in connection with Mace's accusations. He denies them. He told CNN's Randi Kaye, asked whether he had done any of what Mace alleges: "Absolutely not. No. No."
- Mace has publicly maintained her accusations. On the House floor on February 10, 2025 she said of the men on her board: "They are predators." We found no statement from Mace addressing the solicitors' letters. Her office's October 14, 2026 release, Rep. Nancy Mace Doubles Down on Protecting Survivors and Holding Predators Accountable, does not mention Musgrave or the letters. It quotes her: "Every predator deserves accountability."
- The federal ruling Wilson refers to is Judge Richard Gergel's August 20, 2025 order dismissing Musgrave's defamation suit against Mace with prejudice after the United States was substituted as the defendant under the Westfall Act. That order says the Court "offers no opinion concerning the truthfulness or the lack of truthfulness of allegations made by Defendant Mace in her House speech." Mace said that day: "today's court decision proves their lies and attacks won't break me." Read the full record in our written account of the case, the Brian Musgrave profile and the Musgrave v. Mace case page.
- These are prosecutors' reviews of a SLED report. Wilson wrote that she recognizes "reasonable minds may differ in some of these assessments." Other parts of her memo are redacted and the public cannot read them.
Sources & related coverage
The filings themselves:
- Wilson, Memorandum of Review, August 14, 2026 (PDF, 18 pages, hosted here)
- Stone, letter to Capt. Nelson, August 18, 2026 (PDF, 3 pages, hosted here)
- Brackett, letter, August 21, 2026 (PDF, 2 pages, hosted here)
- Order, Musgrave v. Mace, Dkt. 43, August 20, 2025 (PDF, 15 pages, hosted here)
Reporting on the letters, October 14, 2026:
Mace's response:
Video in the cut:
- Rep. Nancy Mace, House floor speech, February 10, 2025: official YouTube channel
- ABC News 4 (WCIV), August 2025: report on the dismissal
- Live 5 News (WCSC), Caroline Spikes, August 20, 2025: Live 5 News story
Read next
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.
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 · DispatchSolicitor 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.
October 17, 2026 · DispatchSLED Checked 26 of Mace's Allegations. The Prosecutor Called Her Description of the Video 'Inaccurate, if Not False.'
SLED's 147-page report looked at 26 allegations Rep. Nancy Mace made against four men on the House floor. The Post and Courier got the report and the prosecutor's memo through an open records request. Solicitor Scarlett Wilson wrote that the video Mace described shows the opposite of what she said, calling her description 'inaccurate, if not false'. On a separate claim, four witnesses told SLED the camera she called hidden in Bryant's condo was in plain view. SLED also found no child sexual abuse images. All four men named by Mace issued strong denials. Mace did not respond to the paper.
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 16, 2026 · DispatchThree Men Arrested, the Fourth Entirely Exonerated: Prosecutors Reviewing the SLED Investigation Cite Problems With Mace's Credibility and Involvement in the Case
SLED arrested three of the four men Rep. Nancy Mace named on the House floor. The fourth, Brian Musgrave, was not charged, and three solicitors who reviewed SLED's investigation wrote that he is innocent and that Mace's credibility would be thoroughly undermined at trial. None of the seven warrants cites a video recording. They rest on a witness account. All three charged men deny the charges and are presumed innocent.