Congresswoman Nancy Mace left a closed-door committee meeting with Jeffrey Epstein’s victims in tears on Tuesday. The South Carolina Republican was photographed wiping her eyes after walking out of the Government Reform Committee gathering in Washington earlier than expected. When pressed by a reporter, she only shook her head.
Later, she explained her sudden exit on X. “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,” Mace wrote. She added, “I feel the immense pain of how hard all victims are fighting for themselves because we know absolutely no one will fight for us. GOD BLESS ALL SURVIVORS.”
Mace has spoken openly before about sexual violence. In February, she delivered a fiery speech on the House floor, accusing four men—including her ex-fiancé—of “heinous crimes against women.” All denied her allegations. “I rise today to call out the cowards who think they can prey on women and get away with it,” she declared at the time. “Today, I’m going scorched earth.”
Tuesday’s meeting was part of the House Oversight Committee’s push to investigate how federal agencies handled the Epstein case. Six victims were in Washington to meet with lawmakers including Mace, Committee Chair James Comer, and Speaker Mike Johnson. The session lasted more than two hours, according to The New York Times.
Mace dismissed concerns about going against former President Donald Trump on the Epstein issue. “Donald Trump is the one who banned Jeffrey Epstein from Mar-a-Lago,” she said, according to The Independent. “He was an FBI informant, and he talked to the feds to get this guy turned over. So Donald Trump is a hero in this.”
Congress has returned from recess with Epstein’s crimes and his network at the top of the agenda. Johnson said lawmakers will hear from “half a dozen or more” victims this week. “The objective here is not just to uncover, investigate the Epstein evils, but also to ensure that this never happens again and ultimately to find out why justice has been delayed for these ladies for so very long,” he said after Tuesday’s meeting. “It is inexcusable. And it will stop now because the Congress is dialed in on this.”
Johnson also suggested the number of victims could be as high as 1,000 when including both Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. He promised transparency, saying the Justice Department has already processed 34,000 documents and plans to release them publicly.
The first batch of Epstein files—about 33,000 documents—was posted Tuesday night. But Democrats quickly noted most had already been made public. Rep. Robert Garcia of California, the top Democrat on the committee, said, “I’m glad all those files have been released to the American public, but most of it is already in the public record.” He urged Attorney General Pam Bondi to fully comply with subpoenas and release everything.
More testimony is expected this week. Victims Teresa Helm and Jess Michaels are set to appear at a Capitol Hill press conference with Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie on Wednesday.
Speaking to MSNBC ahead of the meeting, Michaels said, “What we’re looking for with all of these meetings is courage on the part of Republican representatives, because this is, most importantly, a bipartisan issue. This is not something that anyone, anyone on any side of the aisle should be for. No one should be for child sex trafficking and allowing perpetrators to escape justice, and no one should be for systems failing to prosecute over decades.”