
Federal prosecutors have dropped charges against the man whom anti-trans Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) accused of physically assaulting her while asking her to protect trans people.
Prosecutors did not say why they dropped the charges, but Mace has made it clear she’s not happy about it.
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Mace has made a national name for herself by bullying trans people, but it seems she is unwilling to be on the receiving end of any ire.
“When a man can physically assault a woman in the halls of Congress, with impunity, it sends an appalling message to every woman in America,” Mace told News 2. “If it can happen here, it can happen anywhere.”
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“I was injured, intentionally, and I am still in pain,” she continued. “I filed charges, and they were inexplicably ignored. But I will not be. I will not back down. I will not be intimidated. And I sure as hell won’t stay silent.”
In December, Mace claimed foster youth advocate James McIntyre of Illinois injured her arm at an event for the Foster Youth Caucus, of which Mace is a co-chair.
“I was physically accosted at the Capitol tonight by a pro-tr*ns man,” Mace wrote on X, inexplicably starring out the word trans. “One new brace for my wrist and some ice for my arm and it’ll heal just fine. The Capitol police arrested the guy. Your tr*ns violence and threats on my life will only make me double down. FAFO. #HoldTheLine.”
I was physically accosted at the Capitol tonight by a pro-tr*ns man. One new brace for my wrist and some ice for my arm and it’ll heal just fine.
— Nancy Mace (@NancyMace) December 11, 2024
The Capitol police arrested the guy.
Your tr*ns violence and threats on my life will only make me double down. FAFO. #HoldTheLine
The charges allege that McIntyre “took her hand with both of his hands and shook her arm up and down in an exaggerated, aggressive hand-shaking motion.”
Three eyewitnesses, however, accused Mace of manufacturing the assault, saying Mace and McIntyre, who pleaded not guilty, shared nothing more than a standard handshake while he asked the Congresswoman to protect trans rights.
“From what I saw, it was a normal handshake and interaction that I would expect any legislator to expect from anyone as a constituent,” former foster youth and LGBTQ+ rights advocate Elliot Hinkle told Imprint at the time.
Hinkle added that the arrest of McIntyre–who is also a former foster youth–“sends a chilling effect of, you’re not actually safe to go to the Capitol Hill and share an opinion that is true for you, that isn’t violent—because right now if you do, a congressperson might say that they were physically assaulted and call the police on you.”
“What we witnessed was a handshake, a passionate shake, but it didn’t look like an assault or intended aggression,” Hinkle told the Washington Post in December, adding that McIntyre told Mace, “Trans youth are also foster youth, and they need your support.”
Mace told News 2 the activists were “lying about what happened.”
“These activists are organized and they’re also dangerous, but I am not going to stop. I am injured… I will survive like I always have, but it’s also not going to stop me. I’m going to continue to fight for women.”
In a Facebook post at the time, foster youth advocate Lisa Dickson railed against Mace for her behavior at the event: “I want to express deep disappointment in the fact that Congresswoman Nancy Mace came to a national foster youth event, told participating youth that it was a safe space — and literally had one of them arrested by Capital police for simply shaking her hand and asking about trans rights.”
She added in a follow-up: “Today was not the day or the time for a self-serving publicity stunt – especially not a politician lashing out at a vulnerable young person who just took her at her word that, when helping foster youth, ‘all suggestions are welcome.”’
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