Part of: Musgrave v. Mace (2:25-cv-01823-RMG)
Breach of Trust: Surveillance in Private Spaces, House Oversight Committee Hearing
Rep. Nancy Mace chaired a May 20, 2025 House Oversight Committee hearing titled 'Breach of Trust: Surveillance in Private Spaces,' centering on allegations that private individuals had been secretly recorded. The hearing is directly connected to the Musgrave v. Mace defamation litigation; Mace's allegations and the named men's denials are contested and unproven, and related litigation remains pending.
Rep. Nancy Mace, as chair of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, convened a May 20, 2025 hearing titled "Breach of Trust: Surveillance in Private Spaces." The hearing closely followed her February 11, 2025 House floor speech in which she accused four named men, including her ex-fiancé Patrick Bryant, of rape, sex trafficking, and other serious crimes. All four men categorically denied the allegations.
The hearing carried forward the same factual assertions as the floor speech into a formal committee proceeding. The proceedings were streamed and posted to the official GOP Oversight YouTube channel.
What Mace said about Patrick Bryant, in her own words
Chairing the hearing as a self-described survivor, Mace named her former fiancé repeatedly and described what she said she had found on his devices. The following are verbatim from the hearing video below; Bryant categorically denies every one of them:
"Starting on November 5th, 2023, I discovered my former fiancé, Patrick Bryant, had filmed women without their knowledge, without their permission, and without their consent. He filmed rape, too."
"He's able to rape other women, film them."
"This is one of the rape victims that I discussed in my February 10th floor speech. As you can tell, she's on the couch and she's unconscious, passed out, blacked out. I think she was roofied."
"Patrick Bryant allegedly raped at least three women."
"This man is a rapist. He's a voyeur. He's a peeping tom. He deserves to be in jail."
"My office has a tip line that remains active for those who believe they may have been recorded, assaulted, or otherwise victimized by Patrick Bryant and any of his business partners."
"Bring it on, brother, because there is no defamation in the truth. And if you're going to be the kind of monster that sues his own victims, may God help you."
These marquee lines are also reproduced verbatim in a public court filing in GLT2 v. Mace (Charleston County, Case No. 2025-CP-10-00981).
The four named men deny all of Mace's allegations. All claims are contested and unproven. Related civil litigation, including Musgrave v. Mace, the federal defamation suit filed by Brian Musgrave after the floor speech, remains pending. Mace denied wrongdoing throughout.
"That's my body", the silhouette photo
During the hearing Mace also held up a poster-sized image she said depicted her own body, telling the room it had been captured by hidden surveillance without her consent:
"I had an oversight about surveillance in private spaces, and that's my body. You can see the silhouette. … You can tell that it's me and my long hair and everything."
She added that she had "found evidence going back a decade of upskirt photos" and "showed some of those in this hearing." That moment is covered in full in the dispatch At her own surveillance hearing, Mace displays a 'naked silhouette' of herself, and the event is grouped in the surveillance hearing incident hub.
Watch the full hearing: GOP Oversight on YouTube →
Sources & related coverage
- Full hearing, GOP Oversight YouTube
- Rep. Nancy Mace details accusations of rape and sexual abuse in a speech from the House floor (NBC News)
- US Rep. Nancy Mace sued for libel and defamation after making public accusations of abuse (Post and Courier)
- Rep. Mace shares alleged nonconsensual naked photo of herself during House hearing (ABC News 4)
- Dispatch: At her own surveillance hearing, Mace displays a 'naked silhouette' of herself
- Incident hub: The 'Breach of Trust' surveillance hearing & the silhouette photo
- Musgrave v. Mace, case hub
Read next
May 21, 2025 · DispatchNancy Mace on Louder with Crowder, May 21, 2025
Rep. Nancy Mace appeared on Steven Crowder's 'Louder with Crowder' program on May 21, 2025, one day after chairing the House Oversight hearing on surveillance in private spaces. The episode was titled 'Donald Trump, James Comey, and Naked Congresswomen? It's an Explosion of News.' Mace's allegations against the named men are contested and unproven; all deny wrongdoing, and related litigation remains pending.
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.
August 23, 2026 · DispatchMace Won't Talk About Brian Musgrave, and He Isn't Even Under the Gag Order
A year ago this week, a federal judge ended Brian Musgrave's defamation case against Rep. Nancy Mace, not because her 'predator' accusation was found true, but because the court held she was immune. Eighteen months after she named the Fort Mill businessman from the House floor, there is still no criminal charge, no evidence produced, no retraction, and SLED has told him he is not a target. Musgrave was never a party to the case Mace is gagged in, and his own case is closed, so nothing bars her from answering for the accusation. She simply does not.
April 2, 2025 · DispatchProsecutors drop charge against man who Rep. Nancy Mace accused of assaulting her at the Capitol
Prosecutors dropped the misdemeanor assault charge against foster-care advocate James McIntyre, whom Mace had accused of 'physically accosting' her at a December 2024 Capitol event. Three eyewitnesses said McIntyre had simply shaken her hand. The dismissal drew wide coverage, which characterized the charge's collapse as undercutting Mace's account.
March 14, 2025 · DispatchUS Rep. Nancy Mace sued for libel and defamation after making public accusations of abuse
Brian Musgrave, one of the four men Mace accused by name in her February 2025 House floor speech, filed a federal defamation and libel suit against her. The case was dismissed with prejudice on August 20, 2025: the court substituted the United States for Mace under the Westfall Act, held that the speech and related press and social-media statements were within the scope of her employment, and found the libel claims barred by the Federal Tort Claims Act. All allegations are contested; Mace denied wrongdoing.