PHOTO: Nancy Mace seen wearing shoulder sling on Capitol Hill day after alleged assault
WASHINGTON (WCBD) – U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) was seen wearing a shoulder sling on Capitol Hill one day after an alleged assault she claims came in response to her recent calls for transgender women to be prohibited from using women’s restrooms on federal property.
Mace wrote in a Dec. 10 post on X that she was “physically accosted…by a pro-tr*ns man” on Capitol grounds, causing injuries to her arm and wrist that required a brace.
“All the violence and threats keep proving our point,” she wrote in a separate post on her official X account. “Women deserve to be safe. Your threats will not stop my fight for women!”
U.S. Capitol Police said James McIntyre, 33, was arrested and charged with assaulting a government official.
McIntyre is the co-founder of the Illinois chapter of Foster Care Alumni of America, a national foster care advocacy group. He was reportedly in Washington to attend a reception celebrating the 25th anniversary of the passage of the Foster Care Independence Act of 1999.
Mace is a co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional Caucus on Foster Youth and spoke at the event.
But, several witnesses who attended that reception are now refuting Mace’s accusations, according to reports from The Imprint and The Washington Post.
One man told The Imprint, a nonprofit publication that covers child welfare and youth justice, that McIntyre approached Mace after the reception, shook her hand, and made a comment about supporting transgender youth in the foster care system.
“From what I saw, it was a normal handshake and interaction that I would expect any legislator expect from anyone as a constituent,” Elliott Hinkle, a foster youth advocate from Wyoming, told the outlet.
Mace and her office declined to provide additional information about the incident to News 2 when reached for comment multiple times Wednesday.
Capitol Police said in a statement that an incident in the Rayburn House Office Building was reported by a member’s congressional office just before 6 p.m. Tuesday but did not specifically name Mace.
McIntyre was taken into custody following an “investigative interview” by officers and agents with the Threat Assessment Section, authorities added.
News 2 requested further details from police, including an incident report, but those were not provided.
Mace gained national attention last month when she introduced a resolution to amend the rules of the U.S. House to prohibit members, officers, and employees from using single-sex facilities such as bathrooms and locker rooms that do not correspond with their biological sex.
Days later, she introduced another piece of legislation that would extend the ban to all federal property, defending the proposals as being about “protecting women and girls.”
Democrats and LGBTQ+ rights activists swiftly rebuked Mace’s legislation, calling it “cruel” and pointing to its direct targeting of Rep.-elect Sarah McBride (D-Del.), the first openly transgender person elected to Congress.
Mace said during a Nov. 19 appearance on NewsNation’s “On Balance” that she received death threats amid the backlash to her proposals.
