In Her Own Words: The Phone & the Files
What Nancy Mace and sworn witnesses have said about how she got into Patrick Bryant’s phone, in her own court filings and in the sworn accounts of people she spoke to. In sworn statements describing conversations in 2023 and 2024, those witnesses attribute to her descriptions of hacking the phone, guessing the passcode, and asking about hiring a hacker; in her own court filings, Mace says Bryant gave her permission, a thumbprint, and a code, and she denies hacking. Both sets of statements are below, every line verbatim from a sworn or filed source, and every source shown and linked.
How to read this page
These are quotations from public court filings and sworn affidavits and deposition testimony, not findings. In her own filings, Mace maintains that Patrick Bryant gave her express permission to access his phone, that he added her thumbprint and told her she could access it whenever she wanted, and that she reported what she found to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. She denies “hacking” the phone and denies the “blackmail” framing pleaded against her. The witness statements below are each person’s own sworn allegations; Mace has sued some of them and denies wrongdoing, and no court has made any finding of fact on them. Bryant, for his part, categorically denies the accusations Mace has made about him; no criminal charges have been filed against him; and the cases below are unadjudicated and ongoing.
What Witnesses Swear, and What Mace Swears
In sworn affidavits and deposition testimony, people who spoke with Nancy Mace in 2023 and 2024 gave their own accounts of how she described accessing Patrick Bryant’s phone. Eric Bowman swears she asked a confidant whether he knew someone who could hack a phone. Her former campaign strategist, Wesley Donehue, testified under oath that Mace used the word “hack” and that, asked whether Bryant had voluntarily given her access, the answer was “the opposite.” Two of Bryant’s former girlfriends swear, in their own affidavits, that Mace told them she had hacked his computer and phone and had gotten in by guessing his passcode. In her own sworn court filings, Mace gives a different account: she says Bryant gave her express permission, added her thumbprint, and provided the four-digit code to his safe, and she denies hacking the phone. Each of those witnesses’ statements is that witness’s own sworn allegation, which Mace denies; no court has made any finding of fact on them. Both sets of statements are set side by side below, then shown in full.
Every line above is quoted from the sworn source named beside it; each source is reproduced in full below.
What Bowman Swears She Asked, Eric Bowman’s Affidavit
Eric Bowman, a Charleston businessman Mace later sued for defamation, swears that on September 7, 2023, during the period her relationship with Bryant was dissolving, Mace contacted him on the Signal app and asked whether he knew someone who could hack into a phone, then, hours later, told him she had already taken care of it. He also attests she changed the chat’s disappearing-message timer to one day. These are Bowman’s own sworn allegations; Mace has sued him and denies wrongdoing, and no court has ruled on the affidavit.
The Strategist’s Sworn Account, Wesley Donehue’s Deposition
Wesley Donehue ran Mace’s digital and campaign strategy for years. Under oath, he testified that Mace used the word “hack” in describing how she accessed Bryant’s phone, though he cautioned he “wouldn’t label it as hacking” himself, and that she gave him no indication Bryant had voluntarily granted access. Asked directly whether Bryant had, he answered, “In fact, just the opposite,” and recounted that Bryant had locked his phone away in a safe. He also testified she said she would use what she found “to get my houses.” Mace’s office has disputed the “blackmail” characterization the questioning used; this is Donehue’s sworn account.
“I Hacked Into His Computer and Phone”, Ashleigh Messervy’s Affidavit
Ashleigh Messervy, a South Carolina journalist who dated Bryant before his relationship with Mace, swears that at an August 28, 2024 meeting Mace produced an envelope of photographs she said came from Bryant’s phone and, after explaining she “used to be a programmer,” told her, in her sworn words, “I hacked into his [Patrick’s] computer and phone.” This is Messervy’s own sworn account, published with Messervy’s permission; Mace denies wrongdoing and the allegations Mace described to her are unproven and contested.
| Date | Quote | Where / source |
|---|---|---|
| “I hacked into his [Patrick’s] computer and phone.” | Affidavit of Ashleigh Messervy, recounting an August 28, 2024 meeting at which she swears Mace, after saying she “used to be a programmer,” made this statement. | |
| “Because they recorded it and I found the recordings … allegedly …” | Affidavit of Ashleigh Messervy, a text message she attests Mace sent after the meeting, when Messervy asked how she could know the allegations were true. |
![Affidavit of Ashleigh Messervy, page 2: the August 28, 2024 meeting at The Dime on Daniel Island, where she swears Mace said, “I hacked into his [Patrick’s] computer and phone.”](/images/filings/affidavit-ashleigh-messervy-p2.png)
“By Guessing His Passcode”, Neely Kelleher’s Affidavit
Neely Kelleher, who dated Bryant before his relationship with Mace, swears that at an August 29, 2024 meeting at The Dime in Charleston, Mace told her she had accessed Bryant’s phone by guessing his passcode. This is Kelleher’s own sworn account; Mace denies wrongdoing, and the allegations Mace described to her are unproven and contested.
| Date | Quote | Where / source |
|---|---|---|
| “guessing his passcode” | Affidavit of Neely Kelleher: she swears Mace told her, at an August 29, 2024 meeting at The Dime, that she had accessed Bryant’s phone by “guessing his passcode” to obtain incriminating material. |
What She Swears in Her Own Court Filings
These are documents Mace herself signed or filed in the Charleston County cases. In them she admits accessing the phone, attempting the laptop, and accessing hidden folders with a four-digit code she says Bryant provided to her, while framing all of it as permitted. Each admitted line is quoted verbatim and shown on the stamped page it appears on.
Her Sworn Amended Answer
Answering Bryant's Third-Party Complaint, Mace admits a series of acts in her own words. In the same Answer she maintains that Bryant gave her express permission to access his phone, added her thumbprint to it, and told her she could access it whenever she wanted; she denies that she “hacked” the phone; and she says she reported what she found to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. Each admitted line below is quoted verbatim and shown on the stamped page it appears on.
| Date | Quote | Where / source |
|---|---|---|
| “Mace admits that in the fall of 2023 she sought access to Bryant’s phone.” | Her sworn Amended Answer, she states in the same paragraph that Bryant then gave her express permission and added her thumbprint. | |
| “Mace admits that she placed an air tag on Bryant’s car for one day in August 2023.” | Her sworn Amended Answer. | |
| “Mace admits that she attempted to access Bryant’s laptop.” | Her sworn Amended Answer, she says this came after she discovered the images she reported to law enforcement. | |
| “Mace admits that she inquired about hiring a private investigator.” | Her sworn Amended Answer. | |
| “Mace accessed hidden folders on Bryant’s phone using a four-digit code that Bryant had provided to her for his safe.” | Her sworn Amended Answer, she frames the access as permitted and denies that she “hacked” the phone. | |
| “Mace admits that data from Bryant’s phone was transferred to another device.” | Her sworn Amended Answer, she says it was not “without consent” and that she provided the data to law enforcement. | |
| “Mace admits that she accessed Bryant’s phone and obtained photographs and other data.” | Her sworn Amended Answer, response to the emotional-distress count. | |
| “Mace admits that she accessed Bryant’s phone and obtained photographs and information.” | Her sworn Amended Answer, response to the invasion-of-privacy count. | |
| “Mace admits she obtained information from Bryant’s phone.” | Her sworn Amended Answer, response to the civil-conspiracy count. |
The File Inventory, In Her Email
In a February 5, 2026 email to the court and all counsel, Mace enumerated the contents of the evidence repository she assembled from Bryant’s phone. The plaintiff’s filed memorandum opposing a motion to compel quotes that enumeration verbatim. (The characterization that she “stole” the files is the plaintiff’s; the file counts below are quoted from Mace’s own email.)
| Date | Quote | Where / source |
|---|---|---|
| “at least 11,160 files of alleged evidence from Bryant’s phone including: 8,390 JPEG images, 791 MP4 videos, 502 PNG images, 136 PDFs, 55 Quicktime video files, 195 text files, and dozens of other document types including Google Documents, spreadsheets, and Microsoft Office files.” | From her Feb. 5, 2026 email to the court and the parties, as quoted in the plaintiff’s filed memorandum opposing the motion to compel. |
Her Own Pro Se Brief
In a brief she filed herself, Mace describes sharing her Google Drive of Bryant’s data with attorney Marybeth Mullaney. She frames it as done to support a SLED investigation and to seek legal advice, and contends that the full download of the drive by opposing counsel was unauthorized.
| Date | Quote | Where / source |
|---|---|---|
| “For the above reasons, I shared the google drive.” | Her own pro se Supplemental Brief, she says she shared it to support a criminal investigation and to seek legal advice. | |
| “Can we talk asap? I’d like to ask your thoughts about me also filing a suit against Patrick Bryant. After Ali files hers.” | Her May 17, 2025 email to attorney Marybeth Mullaney, reproduced as Exhibit A to her own filed brief. |
