Latest news with #NancyMace
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
EXCLUSIVE: Nancy Mace dismisses 'burner' account allegations as 'bitter exes' tale
EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., is firing back at accusations she directed staffers to create so-called "burner" accounts to boost her image online, telling Fox News Digital the claims are from "bitter exes" and lack any real proof. "When a story relies on 'anonymous former staffers,' it's journalist-speak for 'We didn't have anything real, so we called the bitter exes,'" Mace said, responding to a recent article published by Wired magazine. The article cited former aides and consultants, including a deposition from political consultant Wesley Donehue, to allege Mace used burner accounts and even automated bots to amplify her political messaging. Exclusive: Nancy Mace Unloads After Arrest Of Trans Activist Who Allegedly Threatened To 'Assassinate' Her But Mace, who chairs the House Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation, isn't buying it. "Unlike some folks, I don't need a burner phone to tell the truth," she said. "I say what I mean, I mean what I say, and I post it from my real account, with my name on it. Accountability starts there." Read On The Fox News App At a time when anonymous sources dominate headlines, Mace is leaning into her reputation for saying the quiet part out loud. "I'll keep telling the uncomfortable truth," she added. "And if it makes you squirm, good. That means you're finally paying attention." Nancy Mace Torches Clemson University Over 15-Gender Menu: 'Not On My Watch' Mace has built her brand on fighting for survivors of sexual assault, including her own, and advocating for policies that protect women and parental rights. She has taken public stands on legislation to preserve Title IX protections for biological women and expand access to resources for survivors of violence. Earlier this month, she called out a transgender activist accused of threatening to "assassinate" her, saying, "You don't have to agree with me, but threatening a mother and congresswoman with violence isn't protest, it's criminal." In the interview, Mace pointed to her real-world experience in tech, a rarity in Congress, as a major asset in crafting meaningful policy. "Well, for starters, I actually understand the intricacies of technology, which already puts me ahead of most of Washington," Mace said, referring to her background as a self-taught computer coder. "We're writing policy focused on protecting your data, cracking down on cyber threats, and pushing back against Big Tech censorship." Her hands-on experience, she said, helps her spot both software flaws and political spin. "It turns out writing code teaches you to spot bugs in software and in political BS," Mace said. When asked how she keeps her office's online work grounded in conservative principles like accountability and leadership, Mace didn't miss a beat. "I lead with facts, I speak for the people who sent me here and I don't hide behind consultants or filtered statements," she said. "Being accountable means saying the hard stuff, standing your ground and not running from a fight, even if it makes the media clutch their pearls." As for the viral video online showing what appeared to be a stack of burner phones, Mace had a laugh at the spectacle. "About as many burner phones as Wired has credible sources for 'burner-gate,'" she quipped. She even poked fun at claims on social media with a tongue-in-cheek AI-generated image of herself holding two Bernese Mountain dogs outside the Capitol, captioned it, "It's true. I have multiple berners!" Mace made it clear she sees this controversy as more smoke than fire, one she believes won't distract her from the work of legislating and representing her district. Mace is the first woman to graduate from South Carolina's Citadel and the first woman elected to represent Charleston in article source: EXCLUSIVE: Nancy Mace dismisses 'burner' account allegations as 'bitter exes' tale
Fox News
4 hours ago
- Politics
- Fox News
EXCLUSIVE: Nancy Mace dismisses 'burner' account allegations as 'bitter exes' tale
EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., is firing back at accusations she directed staffers to create so-called "burner" accounts to boost her image online, telling Fox News Digital the claims are from "bitter exes" and lack any real proof. "When a story relies on 'anonymous former staffers,' it's journalist-speak for 'We didn't have anything real, so we called the bitter exes,'" Mace said, responding to a recent article published by Wired magazine. The article cited former aides and consultants, including a deposition from political consultant Wesley Donehue, to allege Mace used burner accounts and even automated bots to amplify her political messaging. But Mace, who chairs the House Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation, isn't buying it. "Unlike some folks, I don't need a burner phone to tell the truth," she said. "I say what I mean, I mean what I say, and I post it from my real account, with my name on it. Accountability starts there." At a time when anonymous sources dominate headlines, Mace is leaning into her reputation for saying the quiet part out loud. "I'll keep telling the uncomfortable truth," she added. "And if it makes you squirm, good. That means you're finally paying attention." Mace has built her brand on fighting for survivors of sexual assault, including her own, and advocating for policies that protect women and parental rights. She has taken public stands on legislation to preserve Title IX protections for biological women and expand access to resources for survivors of violence. Earlier this month, she called out a transgender activist accused of threatening to "assassinate" her, saying, "You don't have to agree with me, but threatening a mother and congresswoman with violence isn't protest, it's criminal." In the interview, Mace pointed to her real-world experience in tech, a rarity in Congress, as a major asset in crafting meaningful policy. "Well, for starters, I actually understand the intricacies of technology, which already puts me ahead of most of Washington," Mace said, referring to her background as a self-taught computer coder. "We're writing policy focused on protecting your data, cracking down on cyber threats, and pushing back against Big Tech censorship." Her hands-on experience, she said, helps her spot both software flaws and political spin. "It turns out writing code teaches you to spot bugs in software and in political BS," Mace said. When asked how she keeps her office's online work grounded in conservative principles like accountability and leadership, Mace didn't miss a beat. "I lead with facts, I speak for the people who sent me here and I don't hide behind consultants or filtered statements," she said. "Being accountable means saying the hard stuff, standing your ground and not running from a fight, even if it makes the media clutch their pearls." As for the viral video online showing what appeared to be a stack of burner phones, Mace had a laugh at the spectacle. "About as many burner phones as Wired has credible sources for 'burner-gate,'" she quipped. She even poked fun at claims on social media with a tongue-in-cheek AI-generated image of herself holding two Bernese Mountain dogs outside the Capitol, captioned it, "It's true. I have multiple berners!" Mace made it clear she sees this controversy as more smoke than fire, one she believes won't distract her from the work of legislating and representing her district. Mace is the first woman to graduate from South Carolina's Citadel and the first woman elected to represent Charleston in Congress.
Chicago Tribune
20 hours ago
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Heidi Stevens: Texas' Ten Commandments mandate doesn't square with attempts to keep ‘individual beliefs' out of classrooms
In the campaign to keep discussions about race and identity out of classrooms, there's a common refrain: Schools should stick to the basics. 'Teach ABCs + 123s, not CRTs & LGBTs,' campaign signs read in one Texas school board race. (CRT refers to critical race theory, a catchall phrase for lessons that explore how race has shaped America's systems and policies.) 'They're focused more on the LGBTs than the ABCs,' Corey DeAngelis, American Federation for Children senior fellow, said on a Fox Business segment last summer. 'I want our kids to learn about A-E-I-O-U instead of L-G-B-T-Q,' South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace wrote on X in April. In January, when Meridian, Idaho, middle school teacher Sarah Inama was forced to remove an 'Everyone is Welcome Here' poster from her classroom, school officials cited a district policy against signs that distract from students' education. 'School property shall not be used by personnel for the advancement of individual beliefs,' the policy reads. 'It is the desire of the District that the physical environment of District facilities be content neutral, conducive to a positive learning environment and not a distraction to the educational environment.' Stick to the basics. These are straw man fallacies, falsely implying that acknowledging and celebrating the full range of backgrounds, identities and family structures kids bring to the classroom will somehow crowd out instruction time. But it's not an either/or. There's plenty of time to help kids tap into their humanity and still learn to spell. It's why we weave music and art and assemblies and sports and clubs and field trips into children's days. Schools, ideally, teach students the skills they need to survive and thrive. But they also, ideally, help children understand who they are, who they want to become and who they share the world with along the way. I suspect the stick-to-the-basics crowd knows this though. I suspect the movement to keep LGBT and CRT and DEI out of classrooms has less to do with protecting instruction time and more to do with creating a climate where only certain backgrounds, identities and family structures are welcome — or even acknowledged. I suspect 'the advancement of individual beliefs' is fine on classroom walls, in fact, as long as those individual beliefs are shared by the stick-to-the-basics crowd. Otherwise, I'm not sure how you explain the Texas legislature just passing a bill that requires every public school classroom in the state to display the Ten Commandments. The bill, which, as of this writing, was set to be signed by Gov. Greg Abbott, requires every school to 'display in a conspicuous place in each classroom of the school a durable poster or framed copy of the Ten Commandments.' Displays must be at least 16 inches wide and 20 inches tall. 'By placing the Ten Commandments in our public school classrooms,' Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said, according to NBC News, 'we ensure our students receive the same foundational moral compass as our state and country's forefathers.' The same forefathers, it's worth noting, who took care to separate church from state in the U.S. Constitution, prohibiting the government from establishing or sponsoring a religion. In 1980, The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Kentucky state law requiring the Ten Commandments to be displayed in all public school classrooms, ruling that Kentucky's law violated the First Amendment's establishment clause. Forty-five years later, Texas is poised to join Louisiana and Arkansas, both of which recently passed laws mandating that public school classrooms display the Ten Commandments. Will the U.S. Supreme Court hear another challenge to these new laws? It's hard to know. But what's increasingly apparent is that the push to place Christianity at the center of public education is gaining steam. And that's important context to consider when you hear folks insisting that classrooms should focus on the ABCs and 123s. That's important context to consider when a teacher is made to remove an 'Everyone is Welcome Here' poster because it advances individual beliefs. It doesn't add up. There's nothing wrong with schools shaping and engaging kids' hearts and values and beliefs, alongside language and literacy and math. Their humanity is an enormous part of their well-being. But when you restrict those values and beliefs to a single religion, you're not really protecting children's humanity. Not all children's humanity, anyway. You're protecting dogma. You're taking a public space, funded by and built for all, and making it only welcoming for some. Don't pretend it's about vowels. Don't pretend it's about addition and subtraction, when it's actually about exclusion. Our children deserve better.
Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
Nancy Mace's Ex-Staffers Claim She Asked Them to Make 'Burner Accounts' on Social Media to Hype Her
South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace's former staffers spoke out about her alleged strange behavior in a new report from WIRED. Several past staffers claim that they were asked to create burner accounts on social media to monitor comments about Mace and even reply, "saying things that weren't true," in order to boost her image. The reporting, which Mace's office dismissed as "laughable," comes one week after the congresswoman shocked her colleagues by reportedly showing an image of her naked body during a House subcommittee staffers of South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace are accusing the controversial congresswoman of making some questionable requests of her team. In a new report from WIRED, several past staffers spoke out against Mace, 47, under the condition of anonymity in order to avoid retaliation from their former boss. Mace's office dismissed the report as "laughable" when reached for comment by PEOPLE. Some of the former workers alleged to WIRED that the Republican lawmaker would frequently monitor her image on social media, even creating bots to post in support of her. She allegedly also asked staffers to create fake profiles on social media in order to keep an eye on discourse and boost her online image. 'We had to make multiple accounts, burner accounts, and go and reply to comments, saying things that weren't true—even Reddit forums,' a former staffer claimed. 'We were congressional staff, and there were actual things we could be doing to help the constituents.' The congresswoman, once a self-described 'never Trumper,' has become one of the president's most outspoken allies in Congress during his second term. She has touted her tech expertise as a member of the House subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation. In fact, WIRED's sources claimed, Mace would often describe herself as a 'self-taught coder.' 'I would say [it was] at least a weekly comment, if not daily,' another said of the congresswoman's tech boasting. PEOPLE asked Mace's office for comment on the WIRED report, to which spokesperson Sydney Long sarcastically warned that her response would have to be short. "I would give you an additional comment but we're too busy creating burner accounts, according to former staff," she prefaced. Long's official statement read, "As Congresswoman Mace's Communications Director, I can say with complete confidence: I've never been asked to create a burner account, and the suggestion is laughable." The latest reporting from WIRED comes just one week after Mace's latest buzzy appearance on Capitol Hill. Just five months into the congressional term, she has already come under fire for yelling trans slurs on the House floor, hurling profanity at a constituent in an Ulta store, and threatening a fellow congresswoman to "take it outside" during a heated exchange. And most recently, Mace shocked colleagues by showing what she said was a screenshot of her "naked body" during a House subcommittee hearing. On May 20, Mace delivered a speech at a hearing for the House Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation Subcommittee, titled 'Breach of Trust: Surveillance in Private Spaces." During the speech, Mace — who accused her former fiancé, Patrick Bryant, and three other men of rape and sexual misconduct in a nearly hour-long speech on the House floor on Feb. 10 — recalled an alleged incident in which she said Bryant set up a "secret camera" without her knowledge. Speaking in front of a black and white screenshot, Mace pointed out the silhouette of a body circled in yellow standing on the right side of the screen. 'Behind me is a screenshot from one of the videos I found of myself. The yellow circle, this naked silhouette, is my naked body," she claimed. 'I didn't know that I had been filmed. I didn't give my consent. I didn't give my permission." The congresswoman went on to claim that her ex had secretly filmed her and saved the video "for over three years," allegedly without her knowing. She also claimed that he had filmed other women "without their knowledge, without their permission, and without their consent." Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Bryant has repeatedly denied Mace's allegations. Following her May 20 remarks, he shared a statement on Facebook, insisting, "I categorically deny the false and outrageous claims made by Nancy Mace. I have never raped anyone. I have never hidden cameras. I have never harmed any woman. These accusations are not just false— they are malicious and deeply personal." "My mistake was loving and trusting someone who later weaponized our relationship," he continued. "Nancy Mace made these claims only while standing in Congress, purportedly shielded by legal immunity. 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." Bryant's statement concluded, "Her allegations are absolutely baseless. And, I will, at the right time, do whatever is necessary and appropriate to clear my name, to prove my integrity, and to restore my reputation in the community." Read the original article on People
Washington Post
2 days ago
- General
- Washington Post
Sen. Lindsey Graham gets a 2026 challenge from Democrat Annie Andrews, who ran against Nancy Mace
COLUMBIA, S.C. — Dr. Annie Andrews, the South Carolina Democrat who unsuccessfully challenged Rep. Nancy Mace in 2022, says she's running against Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham in 2026, challenging the four-term incumbent in part due to what she characterized as his waffling positions over the course of his political career.
