Part of: Assignment Desk Works, LLC v. Alexis Berg · Litigation Overview & Court-Filing Index
Patrick 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.
"It gives me incredible relief to say that he's been completely exonerated of any wrongdoing."
That is Patrick Bryant, speaking about his friend Brian Musgrave at the ABC News 4 (WCIV) studio on Oct. 16, 2026. The statement was recorded on a phone by Bryant's side at the studio. The footage is not ABC's broadcast. "Completely exonerated" and "completely baseless" are Bryant's characterizations.
The statement
Bryant:
"Brian Musgrave has been my best friend for 39 years, and I love him like a brother. He is the best man at my wedding, and he is the most honorable and trustworthy man I have ever known in my entire life. It gives me incredible relief to say that he's been completely exonerated of any wrongdoing, and every allegation that was made about him was completely baseless. Anyone who repeated those claims owes him the same amount of public attention now that they gave to the accusations. And that's the statement."
What the letters say
Bryant spoke after three letters from South Carolina circuit solicitors about Rep. Nancy Mace's public accusations against Brian Musgrave. FITSNews and ABC News 4 published them on Oct. 14, 2026. Each letter is shown on its own page.
- Three prosecutors on Mace's accusations against Musgrave
- Solicitor Scarlett Wilson to SLED, Aug. 14, 2026: "Your report offers zero evidence that Mr. Musgrave committed any crime because zero evidence was presented to you."
- Solicitor Duffie Stone to SLED, Aug. 18, 2026: Mace "offered neither evidence nor even suspicions to law enforcement to justify her comments."
- Solicitor Kevin Brackett to Solicitor Wilson, Aug. 21, 2026: "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."
A solicitor's letter is a prosecutor's review of an investigative report. It is not a court finding. Musgrave was not charged. The one court that heard his defamation suit against Mace dismissed it on immunity grounds on Aug. 20, 2025 and said it "offers no opinion concerning the truthfulness or the lack of truthfulness" of her allegations (Musgrave's defamation suits).
Then and now
On March 10, 2025, Bryant posted about Musgrave (the March 2025 post):
"I love Brian Musgrave like a brother. He has been my best friend for 36 years, the best man at my wedding, and the most honorable, trustworthy man I've ever known."
On Oct. 16, 2026, Bryant said:
"Brian Musgrave has been my best friend for 39 years, and I love him like a brother."
Denials
Musgrave denies Mace's accusations. Mace denies wrongdoing.
Sources
- Recording: Patrick Bryant's statement, recorded at the ABC News 4 studio on Oct. 16, 2026.
- Three solicitors' letters on Mace's accusations against Musgrave, published by FITSNews and ABC News 4 on Oct. 14, 2026.
- Patrick Bryant on Brian Musgrave, March 10, 2025
- Musgrave's defamation suits
Read next
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 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 · 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 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 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 2, 2026 · Dispatch"A Verdict Looking for Evidence": Nancy Mace Demands for Letitia James the Due Process She Withheld From Four Men She Publicly Branded Predators, Nearly Three Years Into an Investigation That Has Charged None of Them
On October 2, 2026, Rep. Nancy Mace posted that Letitia James 'doesn't get to call 7 men at Cornell guilty before her investigation even starts. That's not justice. That's a verdict looking for evidence.' In February 2025 Mace publicly branded four named men 'predators.' SLED opened its investigation in December 2023, nearly three years ago. Not one of the four has been charged, and none has been found guilty of anything. All four deny the allegations. Her standard from December 2023 reads the same way as today's post: 'Charges are not a conviction.' Her words, in order, with the public status of each man, including posts she made on her own X accounts before any charge.