Her allegations are specific and one assumes she has evidence of them. She alleges these men were taking secret photos of women while undressed and that they drugged Nancy Mace and took advantage of her.
But she says the state of South Carolina threatened to investigate her.
This... Well, there's definitely bad behavior going on here on someone's part. Either Mace is a bad actor and making herself out to be Joan of Arc, or South Carolina officials are protecting sex criminals.
Representative Nancy Mace, the South Carolina Republican who in recent weeks has floated a run for governor, on Monday night accused her former fiancé and three other men of having drugged and raped her and other women, and of filming and taking lewd photographs of women and underage girls without their consent.
In a stunningly graphic speech on the House floor that had little precedent, Ms. Mace said the men, whom she named and displayed photographs of on a placard where lawmakers more typically display charts and graphs on policy issues, were involved in the "premeditated, calculated exploitation of innocent women and girls in my district."
"You've booked yourself a one-way ticket to hell," she said, referring to the men directly at one point in a speech that lasted close to an hour. "It is nonstop. There are no connections. So I and all of your victims can watch you rot into eternity."
On the floor of the House, Ms. Mace was protected by the speech and debate clause, even as she accused the men of repeatedly assaulting incapacitated women and filming it. The clause provides lawmakers immunity from criminal prosecutions or civil suits, such as for slander, when they are acting "within the legislative sphere." Ms. Mace offered no evidence to support the accusations, although she said she had plenty of such material.
She refused to answer any follow-up questions from reporters outside the Capitol on Monday night and did not respond to a separate request to provide corroboration. The New York Times has not independently verified any of the allegations.
In a statement not long after Ms. Mace finished speaking, Patrick Bryant, the former fiancé whom she accused by name, denied her account.
"I categorically deny these allegations," he said. "I take this matter seriously and will cooperate fully with any necessary legal processes to clear my name."
Ms. Mace has long made her personal trauma part of her political brand.
So this statement is 100% true -- but it's also 100% true of most leftwing feminists, who constantly allege that they have been sexually assaulted.
Has the Times ever accused leftwing feminists of making rape part of their brand?
In the past, she has shared the story of being molested at a swimming pool when she was 14 and said that for years she blamed herself, because she had been wearing a two-piece bathing suit. She said she was raped when she was 16, leading her to drop out of high school, before pulling herself out of a downward spiral and becoming the first woman to graduate from the military college the Citadel.
Ms. Mace has tried to position herself as the ultimate defender of women's rights, even as she has expressed unequivocal support for President Trump, who has been found liable for sexual abuse, and a cabinet member who has been dogged by an accusation of sexual assault that he has denied.
Nice, NYT.
Say, have you ever pointed out that Hillary Clinton poses as a hero of women while defending her credibly-accused rapist husband? Or that Kamala Harris ran on protecting women from Trump while her husband was slapping girlfriends and knocking up nannies?
In recent weeks, Ms. Mace has made a campaign out of her measure to bar transgender individuals from using women's restrooms and changing rooms in the Capitol complex.
A onetime moderate who has made a full-bore turn to Trumpism as she has tried to game out her own political future in a tribal party, Ms. Mace has been vocal in recent weeks about her interest in running for governor in her state.
So has Alan Wilson, the South Carolina attorney general, whom she targeted in her speech on Monday as a "do-nothing attorney general" and accused of treating women who came forward like criminals.
"During the last year, as I turned everything over to law enforcement, I was told I, as a victim, would be investigated," she said.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Wilson, Jaqueline Lane, said that Ms. Mace's statements regarding the conduct of the attorney general were "categorically false" and "politically motivated."
"At this time, our office has not received any reports or requests for assistance from any law enforcement or prosecution agencies regarding these matters," said Ms. Lane, who added that neither Mr. Wilson nor anyone in his office had heard of Ms. Mace's allegations until she spoke out on Monday night.
This feels very manipulative to me:
Everything she does feels manipulative, to be honest. Which doesn't mean she's not also telling the truth.