Eyewitnesses Say Nancy Mace Called For Man’s Arrest After He Shook Her Hand

Eyewitnesses who watched the interaction between Representative Nancy Mace and James McIntyre are questioning the congresswoman’s claims about being assaulted, describing instead a scene where McIntyre was just shaking her hand.

McIntyre, a 33-year-old from Chicago, was arrested by U.S. Capitol Police on Tuesday evening at an event for foster children and charged with assaulting a government official. Authorities said that the suspect was tracked down after Mace’s office reported an incident in the Rayburn House Office Building.

“I was physically accosted at the Capitol tonight by a pro-tr*ns man. One new brace for my wrist and some ice for my arm and it’ll heal just fine,” Mace wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday. “The Capitol police arrested the guy. Your tr*ns violence and threats on my life will only make me double down.”

But three eyewitness describe a different scene.

Lisa Dickson, a veteran advocate for foster youth from Ohio, wrote in a Facebook post, “I want to express deep disappointment in the fact that Congresswoman Nancy Mace came to a national foster youth event, told participating youth that it was a safe space — and literally had one of them arrested by Capital police for simply shaking her hand and asking about trans rights.”

Newsweek reached out to Mace via email for comment.

McIntyre, a former foster youth and advocate, was at the House of Representatives Tuesday alongside Dickson and Mace for an event honoring the anniversary of a landmark child welfare law. McIntyre is a leading voice in policymaking surrounding foster care in his home state of Illinois. He was named the “Public Citizen of the Year” by the National Association of Social Workers’ Illinois chapter in 2019.

Another foster care advocate who was present at the event recalled that after Mace finished delivering remarks, she moved to leave a room through an exit where McIntyre approached her to shake her hand and comment about the transgender youth in foster care who “need [her] support.”

“From what I saw, it was a normal handshake and interaction that I would expect any legislator to expect from anyone as a constituent,” Elliott Hinkle, a former foster youth and advocate for LGBTQ rights, told The Imprint.

A police report of the incident obtained by Newsweek said that officers were dispatched after an individual allegedly “violently shook” Mace’s hand and “made threats.” It said that the suspect was contacted to return to the scene and meet with the responding officer and offer a statement of the incident. The suspect was then arrested.

The Imprint, a nonprofit outlet devoted to covering child welfare, reported that when McIntyre was being arrested at the scene, his colleagues “stood by tearfully,” asked where he was being taken to and called “frantically for an attorney who could represent him.”

Hinkle said that the arrest “sends a chilling effect of, you’re not actually safe to go to the Capitol Hill and share an opinion that is true for you, that isn’t violent — because right now if you do, a congressperson might say that they were physically assaulted and call the police on you.”

“How would a young person in care feel safe?” Hinkle asked.

Newsweek reached out to Dickson and Hinkle via email for further comment.

Mace is a vocal, and relatively new opponent of transgender rights, having spent the last few weeks trying to ban House members and staffers from “using single-sex facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex.” The South Carolina Republican proposed a bill that would do so after the United States elected its first ever transgender member of Congress in November’s election. Sarah McBride, who will represent Delaware’s at-large congressional district, will be sworn-in next month.

In a statement shared with Newsweek last month, McBride called Mace’s bill a “blatant attempt from far right-wing extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing.”

“We should be focused on bringing down the cost of housing, health care, and child care, not manufacturing culture wars,” the incoming congresswoman said. “Delawareans sent me here to make the American dream more affordable and accessible and that’s what I’m focused on.”