Days after the president signed a bill focused on curbing revenge porn, Nancy Mace’s former political adviser has accused the South Carolina lawmaker of displaying nude photos taken by her ex-fiancé to extort two properties out of him.
In an April deposition tied to a Charleston County civil case, veteran strategist Wesley Donehue said that Mace intended “to use all the information that she found as leverage to gain 100 percent ownership” of homes the former couple had in Washington and South Carolina’s Isle of Palms.
During a House Oversight Committee hearing on Tuesday, Mace showcased what she described as her “naked silhouette” from a video taken by Patrick Bryant without her consent. Mace said that in 2023, she discovered a trove of hidden-camera nude images of women that she claimed were taken by Byrant, also without those women’s consent. Mace displayed some of the images of the other women in the hearing, though she said she had gotten permission from them to do so.
Citing the example of her ex-lover, Mace encouraged the committee to pass two pieces of legislation she introduced in February centered on further prohibiting “video voyeurism” and expanding a “civil right of action for victims.”
In a statement, Bryant denied Mace’s “false and outrageous claims,” specifying that he had not raped or harmed anyone and that he had “never hidden cameras.”
“My mistake was loving and trusting someone who later weaponized our relationship,” Bryant wrote.
“Nancy Mace made these claims only while standing in Congress, purportedly shielded by legal immunity,” the Charleston-area businessman continued. “If she believed them to be true and there was evidence to support her accusations, she would say them outside the chamber—away from her public role and protections and pursue them through proper legal channels. She has not done so, because she cannot.”
And Donehue—per an 81-page deposition—appeared squarely against Mace’s record of events.
“I don’t believe a word that comes out of Nancy Mace’s mouth about anything,” said Donehue, who claimed to have known Mace for years. Donehue further painted Mace as an individual keen to play the “victim card” in order to get what she wants. “And that has nothing to do with this specific incident. I just believe that Nancy Mace will say and do anything for personal and political gain.”
From Donehue’s perspective, the photos on Bryant’s phone became an issue when Mace discovered he had dating apps downloaded, prompting concerns that the entrepreneur was cheating on her.
“Nancy talks about her sex life in a way that I’ve never heard a client or a woman talk,” he continued. “It’s like every conversation would devolve into what’s going on in her sex life.”
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