Target of Nancy Mace's 'scorched earth' attack angrily denies 'predator' allegations

A man who was targeted with salacious allegations on the U.S. House floor by Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) angrily denied the lawmaker's claims.

Brian Musgrave told CNN he was out buying bird seed when he received a text from an unknown number alerting him that Mace was going to mention his name in a House speech, in which she announced she was "going scorched earth," and he said the lawmaker's accusations have turned his life upside-down.

“First reaction was, what could that even be? It just didn’t make any sense,” Musgrave told CNN, “I couldn’t think of a context where I would be named in a floor speech by Nancy Mace at all.”

The South Carolina congresswoman accused her former fiancé Patrick Bryant of rape and claimed that he and three other men, including Musgrave, recorded sex acts without her consent, and she displayed their names, hometowns and photos on a placard emblazoned with the words "PREDATORS" and "STAY AWAY FROM" in block letters, along with the seal of the U.S. House of Representatives.

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“He’s nowhere near any of those things that she was accusing him of,” said his wife, Jen Musgrave. “Anyone who knows him, there’s just no way it would ever be possible so to have someone say something like that, in public, it just blew my mind.”

“It made me mad to think that someone could say that without an ounce of truth behind it,” she added.

Musgrave said the only true thing Mace said about him was that he was an old friend of Bryant, with whom he owns a condo in Isle of Palms, South Carolina, but he doesn't believe her claims about her ex-fiancé.

"Mace said she found more than 10,000 hidden camera videos and photos after Bryant gave her access to his phone when they were still a couple but didn’t provide any evidence," CNN reported. "She said the assaults she uncovered in November 2023 spanned 'over a decade, almost 20 years.' South Carolina Law Enforcement, known as SLED, told CNN in a statement they are investigating, and the subject of their inquiries is Bryant. CNN has confirmed that videos do exist, but a source would not comment on the contents. CNN has not obtained nor reviewed any videos or photos."

Musgrave said the condo has a camera installed in plain sight in the kitchen to monitor use of the property, but he denied having any control over it and said he's never watched any videos that may have been recorded.

“The most control I could have over that camera would be to unplug it,” Musgrave said.

Musgrave's lawyers say they've seen “zero evidence” their client has done anything wrong, and they have sent Mace a letter asking her to provide evidence to support her allegations or retract them and issue an apology, saying that her claims shouldn't be shielded by the Speech or Debate clause in Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution.

“You can’t use the House floor as a bullhorn to destroy people,” said attorney Eric Bland. “That’s not why you’re elected to office. I don’t think that’s what the protections were intended to do.”

A representative for the House General Counsel, acting as one of Mace’s lawyers, responded to that request by saying that “SLED is investigating the matter” and “any request for such evidence should be directed to SLED," but Musgrave and his attorneys aren't satisfied.

“For the rest of my life, when someone Googles ‘Brian Musgrave’ this is going to be the thing that comes up,” Musgrave said. “I’m completely uncertain what tomorrow is going to be business-wise.”