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WASHINGTON (WCBD) – Federal prosecutors moved to dismiss charges Tuesday against a man U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) accused of assaulting her during an event at the Capitol last year.
Mace accused James McIntyre of Illinois, a national foster care advocate, of accosting her during a Dec. 10 reception celebrating the 25th anniversary of the passage of the Foster Care Independence Act of 1999.
She claimed the assault came in response to her efforts to bar transgender women from using women’s restrooms on federal property, writing in a Dec. 10 post on X that she was “physically accosted…by a pro-tr*ns man.”
McIntyre pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor assault charges. Those charges are no longer being pursued, according to an April 1 filing in D.C. Superior Court.
Government attorneys did not provide a reason for the dismissal in their “noelle prosequi” filing, which is Latin for “not to wish to prosecute.”
Mace denounced the decision in an April 2 statement to Nexstar’s WCBD, saying it sends an “appalling message.”
“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,” she said. “If it can happen here, it can happen anywhere.”
Several eyewitnesses disputed Mace’s characterization of the Dec. 10 incident, suggesting it looked like a “normal handshake.”
But Mace claimed her arm and wrist were injured, and she was spotted the next day wearing a sling on Capitol Hill.
“I was injured, intentionally, and I am still in pain,” she said. “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.”
The Lowcountry congresswoman, who is mulling a bid for South Carolina governor, visited the State House in Columbia on Wednesday.
The Hill’s Zach Schonfeld contributed to this report.
