Capitol Police in Mace's office during Dan Hanlon's exit (December 2023)
After Rep. Mace fired chief of staff Dan Hanlon, Capitol Police entered her office on December 4, 2023 before he arrived to collect his belongings. Former staffers said they believed the police presence was meant to intimidate Hanlon; no charges were filed and no arrest was made.
On December 1, 2023, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC-1) fired her chief of staff, Dan Hanlon. According to reporting by Slate, The Daily Beast, and the Washington Examiner, Mace's incoming chief of staff, Lori Khatod, instructed Hanlon to return to the congressional office the following Monday, December 4, at 4:00 p.m. to collect his belongings and turn in his keys.
At approximately 3:45 p.m. on December 4, before Hanlon arrived, U.S. Capitol Police entered Mace's office, Slate reported. Officers told the staff who were present that they "had no reason to fear anything" and that they were there to protect them, saying they had heard a former employee had made threats and was expected at 4 p.m. Slate reported that Capitol Police issued a "be on the lookout" (BOLO) notice for Hanlon on Capitol grounds.
Staffers who were present said they had never known Hanlon to make anything resembling a threat. Multiple former staffers, speaking anonymously to The Daily Beast, Salon, and Slate, said they believed the police presence had been arranged to intimidate Hanlon as he left. A former senior staffer was quoted as saying: "At that moment, I felt the most unsafe I ever had on the Hill, when I realized she was using the Capitol Police to intimidate staff." Whether Mace or Khatod directed the call to Capitol Police was not confirmed; former staffers described it as their assumption.
No charges were filed and no arrest was made. Asked about the episode, Capitol Police told Slate that "the requested information is not publicly available." Khatod and Mace's office did not provide comment, and Hanlon declined to comment, according to the outlets that reported the story.
The episode was reported as part of a broader wave of departures from Mace's office: by February 2024, The Daily Beast reported that her entire Washington staff had turned over since November 2023. See the Dan Hanlon entry for the wider staffing context.
Source. Slate, The Unraveling of Nancy Mace (June 10, 2024) | The Daily Beast, Total Staff Turnover (Feb. 5, 2024) | Salon (Feb. 5, 2024) | Washington Examiner (Dec. 5, 2023)