The 'Breach of Trust' surveillance hearing & the silhouette photo (May 20, 2025)
On May 20, 2025, roughly three months after her House floor speech, Rep. Mace chaired a House Oversight subcommittee hearing she titled 'Breach of Trust: Surveillance in Private Spaces' and used it to repeat her accusations against her ex-fiancé Patrick Bryant, including by holding up a poster-sized 'silhouette' image she said depicted her own body, taken without her consent. Bryant and the other named men deny all allegations; the matters are contested and in ongoing litigation.
Roughly three months after her February 10, 2025 House floor speech, Rep. Nancy Mace, as chair of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation, convened a May 20, 2025 hearing she titled "Breach of Trust: Surveillance in Private Spaces." She used her opening and closing remarks to carry the same accusations against her ex-fiancé, Charleston businessman Patrick Bryant, into a formal congressional proceeding broadcast on the official congressional video stream.
The hearing's most-covered moment came when Mace held up a poster-sized image she said depicted her own body, a "silhouette" she told the room 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."
The same day, Bryant issued a public statement categorically denying Mace's allegations and arguing she had made them only "while standing in Congress, purportedly shielded by legal immunity."
All individuals named by Mace deny her allegations; no criminal charges have been filed. The accusations are contested and unproven, and related civil litigation, including Musgrave v. Mace, and a South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) investigation remain pending. Nothing here is a finding of fact.
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On the Record
At her own surveillance hearing, Mace displays a 'naked silhouette' of herself: 'That's my body. You can see the silhouette.'
Chairing a House Oversight subcommittee hearing she titled 'Breach of Trust: Surveillance in Private Spaces,' Rep. Nancy Mace held up a poster-sized image she said depicted her own body, told the room it had been captured by hidden surveillance without her consent, and said no one had been arrested. She tied the image to her ex-fiancé, Patrick Bryant, who categorically denies her allegations; the matter is contested and in ongoing litigation.
Patrick Bryant: 'I categorically deny the false and outrageous claims made by Nancy Mace'
On May 20, 2025, the day Rep. Nancy Mace testified before a House Oversight subcommittee, her former fiancé Patrick Bryant issued a public statement denying her allegations and demanding she repeat them outside the protections of Congress.