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Part of: Musgrave v. Mace (2:25-cv-01823-RMG)

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"Arrest me. Take me to jail." Mace brings handcuffs to the House floor

During her February 10, 2025 House floor speech, Rep. Nancy Mace said she had been told she would be investigated and could be arrested for coming forward, then held up a pair of handcuffs and told the chamber: 'If anyone would like to arrest me for standing up for women, here are my wrists. Arrest me. Take me to jail.' Nearly a year later she repeated the offer in a written statement to the court in Berg v. Bryant. The men she has accused deny the allegations and the civil litigation is ongoing.

Rep. Nancy Mace addresses the U.S. House during her February 10, 2025 floor speech
Photo: The Post and Courier. Source

"Arrest me. Take me to jail." Standing at the podium of the U.S. House of Representatives on February 10, 2025, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) lifted a pair of handcuffs and offered the chamber her wrists.

The line came near the end of a roughly 52-minute floor speech. Earlier in it, Mace told the House that after she turned material over to law enforcement she had been warned about the consequences of coming forward:

"I was told I, as a victim, would be investigated. Investigated for what?"

"During the last year, more than once, I was told I could be arrested. Arrested for what?"

She framed both as efforts to intimidate victims into silence, then produced the handcuffs:

"I brought handcuffs with me today. If anyone would like to arrest me for standing up for women, here are my wrists. Arrest me. Take me to jail."

Watch it

Mace posted the full floor session to her official congressional YouTube channel:

Source: Mace's official YouTube channel, "Congresswoman Nancy Mace," upload of the February 10, 2025 floor session.

We have also cut a vertical supercut of the arrest-and-jail thread, each moment drawn from that same upload and captioned word for word from the audio: watch the clip.

The offer stands

Nearly a year later, the handcuffs reappeared in court. In a victim impact statement filed January 21, 2026 in Berg v. Bryant (Case No. 2025-CP-10-03124, Charleston County Court of Common Pleas), Mace told the court she would not be silenced by a proposed gag order, and pointed back to the floor:

"When I delivered my floor speech in February, I brought handcuffs with me and said: 'If anyone would like to arrest me for standing up for women, here are my wrists.' I meant it then, and I mean it now."

"Let me be unequivocally clear: Your Honor, you will have to throw my ass in jail before I am silenced."

The statement was entered into the public record as an exhibit in that case, which is heard by the Honorable Donald B. Hocker.

The allegations Mace has made are unproven and contested. The men she has named deny them; no criminal charges have been filed against them; the related civil litigation is ongoing and no court has ruled on the merits. What the record documents here is a sitting member of Congress's own words, on the House floor and in her own court filing.

Sources & related coverage

"Arrest me. Take me to jail." Mace brings handcuffs to the House floor: image 1
"Arrest me. Take me to jail." Mace brings handcuffs to the House floor: image 2