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South Carolina representative Nancy Mace has doubled down on claims she was assaulted after witnesses contradicted her account, claiming the suspect simply shook her hand and asked her to support transgender rights.
James McIntyre, 33, of Illinois, was arrested Tuesday night in connection with the incident that happened inside the Rayburn House building and charged with assault on a public servant. On Wednesday, he pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Police said they were able to track down McIntyre after Mace’s office reported the assault shortly before 1 p.m. 18. Twitterthat she was “physically accused”.
“I was physically attacked at the Capitol tonight by a pro-tr*ns man,” Mace wrote. “A new brace for my wrist and some ice for my arm and I’ll be fine. The Capitol Police arrested the guy.”
But three witnesses at the scene have contradicted her claimsand told The Imprint and The Hill that McIntyre simply shook Mace’s hand at a Foster Youth Caucus reception and asked her to support transgender rights. Mace, who co-chairs the Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth, spoke at the reception and told attendees she looked forward to working with them.
“James (McIntyre) met her at the door where people could see her and him to say ‘trans young people are in foster care and they need your support’ and shook her hand and then went back to her seat and sat down .” a witness told The Hill, describing it as a “pretty normal interaction.”
According to the police report from the incident, the suspect “violently squeezed” Mace’s hand and “made threats.”
Francis Chung/AP
Mace has continued to double down on his claims, writing that X: “Women should not be threatened OR accused of speaking up for our rights.”
In another post, she also expressed gratitude to the president-elect Donald Trump to check in on her. “Thank you President Trump for the call right now to check in on me. I’ll be fine as soon as the pain and soreness goes away. January 20th can’t come soon enough,” she wrote.
Meanwhile, she also stressed the need to “stop making excuses for assaults on women.”
“This guy was easily 3x my size by weight. And he’s a grown man. Stop making excuses for assaulting women,” she wrote. In a separate post, she wrote: “LGBs should be separated from the Ts.”
Police have not confirmed whether the suspect was an advocate for transgender rights. Capitol Police said he was able to enter the Rayburn House Office Building legally, which was open to the public. A judge has ordered McIntyre to stay away from Mace, refrain from possessing firearms and only be in the District of Columbia for court-related matters.
Newsweek has contacted Capitol Police and Mace for more information via email.
The alleged assault came a month after a fight broke out on Capitol Hill over a bill proposed by Mace that sought to ban House members and staff from “using single-sex facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex.”
Mace proposed the bill after the United States elected its first ever transgender member Congress, Sarah McBridewho will represent Delaware’s large congressional district in the US House of Representatives starting in January.
“Sarah McBride doesn’t get to influence this. If you’re biologically male, you shouldn’t be in women’s restrooms,” Mace told journalist Pablo Manríquez in November.
Mace’s bill has been supported by several Republicansincluding representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and Speaker of the House Mike Johnsonwhich said in a statement last month that “all single-sex facilities in the Capitol and House office buildings — such as restrooms, locker rooms and changing rooms — are reserved for individuals of that biological sex.”
However, Mace’s bill has also received plenty of criticism, with Democratic Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez accusing Mace and Johnson of “putting all women and girls at risk.” She added that all the bill has done “is allow these Republicans to go around bullying women who don’t wear a skirt because they think maybe she doesn’t look feminine enough.”
Mace has not answered questions about how it would check who is qualified to use the women’s or men’s restrooms. If Mace’s measure passed, its management would fall under the jurisdiction of the sergeant-at-arms, who is the top law enforcement officer in the House of Representatives.
After the remarks, Mace called Ocasio-Cortez a “radical leftist, insane clown” and added that she had been a rape victim.
“I’m a survivor of sexual abuse, I have PTSD from the abuse I suffered at the hands of a man, and it’s so weird and dangerous and perverse, this idea that it’s OK for a naked man to be in a closet room with women, that’s insane to me and this has to stop,” she shared Fox News.
Several studies and reviews have found no evidence to support claims that transgender people pose an increased threat to bathroom safety. Transgender people are also more likely to be victims of violent crimes than those who are not.
She also claimed she had been on the phone to Capitol Police after “threats” she had received from the “radical left.”
“I’ve been on the phone with the Capitol Police because I’ve received so many threats from the radical left, from men dressed as women who think I should be killed because I want women to have private spaces like bathrooms, dressing rooms and closets. rooms, so I will stand in the way of anyone, like Congressman-elect McBride, anyone who wants to harm women, I will not tolerate at all.”
Meanwhile in a statement shared with Newsweek last month, McBride said Mace’s bill was a “blatant attempt by far-right extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing.”
“We should be focused on bringing down the cost of housing, health care and child care, not manufacturing culture wars. Delawareans sent me here to make the American dream more affordable and accessible, and that’s what I’m focused on,” she said.
Last week, protesters opposed to Mace’s measure staged a protest outside a House office building.
