Nancy Mace is firing back at critics who say that she diverted attention away from a Congressional meeting with Jeffrey Epstein’s survivors by leaving the meeting in tears.
The South Carolina representative and gubernatorial candidate was visibly distressed when she left the closed-door meeting between the House Oversight Committee and six Epstein victims, waving off questions from reporters.
Rep. Nancy Mace was visibly upset as she left the meeting with Epstein survivors at the Capitol. She declined to answer questions from reporters. pic.twitter.com/chEHwW9Ypt
— Kristen Eskow (@KristenEskow) September 2, 2025
On Tuesday night, she took to X to explain her abrupt exit, writing that “As a recent survivor (not 2 years in), I had a very difficult time listening to their stories. Full-blown panic attack. Sweating. Hyperventilating. Shaking. I can’t breathe.”
“I feel the immense pain of how hard all victims are fighting for themselves because we know absolutely no one will fight for us,” she added.
That explanation prompted a wave of criticism accusing Mace of seeking out attention for herself with her post.
Savanah Hernandez, a right-wing podcaster and Charlie Kirk’s organization Turning Point USA, responded to Mace’s post and wrote, “It’s actually insane how impossible it is for you not to make every situation about yourself.”
So you’re telling me you can sit across from Epstein victims who are heartbroken and distraught and have been for 30 years and feel no pain.
— Nancy Mace (@NancyMace) September 3, 2025
Mace responded to Hernandez’s comment six hours later, defending her response to the meeting and subsequent explanation.
“So you’re telling me you can sit across from Epstein victims who are heartbroken and distraught and have been for 30 years and feel no pain,” Mace wrote.
The Daily Beast has contacted Mace’s office for comment.
In February, Mace gave a speech on the House floor accusing four men, including her ex-fiancé, of drugging and raping her and several other women.
She also used that speech to accuse South Carolina’s attorney general, Alan Wilson, of ignoring evidence of the alleged crimes and treating women who come forward “like criminals.”
Wilson, who is running for governor against Mace, denied that he had heard about the congresswoman’s allegations before her floor speech.
Mace’s ex-fiancé, Patrick Bryant, denied the accusations in a statement.
Mace, a close ally of President Trump, has said that she was molested at a swimming pool when she was 14 and raped when she was 16, causing her to drop out of high school.
She became the first woman to graduate from the Citadel, a famed military college, and the first Republican woman to represent South Carolina in Congress when she was elected in 2021.
Her sharp attacks on transgender people, including a transgender representative who serves in Congress alongside her, have gained Mace media attention—a central goal she has expressed to her staff. She had previously called herself “pro-transgender rights” before pivoting sharply.
In 2023, the Daily Beast reported on an internal handbook for Mace’s staff that nicknamed her “NATIONAL NANCY” and required communications staffers to book Mace on at least one TV interview per day.
Mace said on Tuesday that she supports “full transparency” for Epstein’s victims. The House Oversight Committee released over 30,000 pages of documents after the meeting with victims, but most of those files were already in the public record.
Representatives Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) have moved to force a vote on releasing all of the Epstein-related files in the DOJ’s possession.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has resisted the push to force a House vote, scheduling a vote instead that would order the Oversight Committee to “continue its ongoing investigation.”
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