Man called a ‘predator’ during Nancy Mace’s ‘scorched earth’ House speech hits back at allegations
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
Brian Musgrave has hit back at GOP firebrand Nancy Mace after she called him and three others ‘predators’ during a speech House floor last month.
During the speech, Mace, a congresswoman from South Carolina, accused her former fiancé Patrick Bryant of rape and claimed that he and three other men, including Musgrave, recorded sex acts without her consent.
She displayed their names, hometowns and photos on a placard alongside the words ‘predators’ and ‘stay away from.’
“First reaction was, what could that even be? It just didn’t make any sense,” Musgrave told CNN. “I couldn’t think of a context where I would be named in a floor speech by Nancy Mace at all.”
“I rise today to call out the cowards who think they can prey on women and get away with it,” said Mace. “Today, I’m going scorched earth.”
Musgrave categorically rejected the allegations when speaking to CNN and denied having witnessed the alleged crimes mentioned by Mace. A representative for Bryant also rejected all “criminal allegations” in a statement to CNN.
Musgrave is an old friend of Bryant and he said he doesn’t believe the allegations against him.
Mace claimed that she found more than 10,000 hidden camera videos and photos when Bryant gave her access to his phone during their time as a couple. She went on to claim that the assaults – that first came to light in November 2023 – had gone on for “over a decade, almost 20 years.”
South Carolina Law Enforcement told the outlet that they are investigating, and that the subject of their inquiries is Bryant. CNN also confirmed that the videos do exist, although they are unable to verify their contents and have not reviewed any of them.
Musgrave said the impact of last month’s speech has been “catastrophic.”
“For the rest of my life, when someone Googles ‘Brian Musgrave’ this is going to be the thing that comes up,” said Musgrave. “I’m completely uncertain what tomorrow is going to be business-wise.”
“Our lives have been completely upended. We will never be able to go back to the way things were for us, which was nice and quiet and happy,” Musgrave added.
“He’s nowhere near any of those things that she was accusing him of,” Musgrave’s wife Jen told CNN. “Anyone who knows him, there’s just no way it would ever be possible so to have someone say something like that, in public, it just blew my mind.”
“It made me mad to think that someone could say that without an ounce of truth behind it,” she said.
