Rep. Nancy Mace escalated a situation with the staff at Charleston International Airport during an encounter in October, creating a “spectacle” that left employees “visibly upset,” according to a police report.
The investigative report from the airport’s police department, obtained by The Post and Courier, describes the South Carolina Republican berating Transportation Security Administration officers and airport police as “f—ing idiots” and “f—ing incompetent,” declaring that she was a “f—ing representative” and telling them, “I’m sick of your s—.”
The airport bears “a certain level of responsibility” for a misunderstanding about the color of the car that Mace would arrive in, which led to a delay in finding her police escort, the report says. But Mace’s continued failure to follow procedures turned “a minor miscommunication over the color of a vehicle into the spectacle that this issue has become for our employees and airport workers,” the investigation found.
Mace’s office did not immediately respond to MS NOW’s request for comment. However, Sydney Long, a spokesperson from Mace’s office, said the investigation completely cleared Mace.
“We appreciate this full exoneration and look forward to remaining fully focused on the issues that actually matter to South Carolinians: affordability and law and order,” Long told The Post and Courier, which obtained the full report through a public records request.
The late October encounter was briefly documented in an incident report at the time. Mace, who is running for governor of South Carolina, wrote in a post on X then that there was a “rumor” that TSA would not let her through, calling it “false” and “silly.” The incident has prompted the Charleston International Airport Police Department to change its policy for federal lawmakers and other politicians traveling through the airport. Mace has since repeatedly threatened legal action against the airport and American Airlines, alleging that they “falsified incident reports to defame me.” She has hinted that she was targeted for “extra surveillance” at the airport and suggested that if she sued, it would take down “South Carolina’s political class and political consultants” and that it would be the “highlight of my career.”
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News. Recommended
