As Rep. Nancy Mace continues to overhaul her political reputation on Capitol Hill, making the transition from a perceived “moderate” to a more reliably conservative partisan, the South Carolina Republican has been especially eager to target President Joe Biden with unfounded corruption allegations.
In late August, for example, Mace told Fox Business that she considers the Democratic incumbent “the most corrupt president in U.S. history,” adding that journalists are involved in an elaborate conspiracy to sweep damaging details “under the rug.” A month later, the congresswoman appeared on ABC News and insisted that she was aware of incriminating evidence against Biden, though she didn’t share any.
It was against this backdrop that Mace sat down with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo last weekend. The host asked, “Have you been able to identify specific policy decisions that Joe Biden made that he was paid for?” The South Carolina Republican responded, “I have not had the, uh, the ability to research that.”
Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman of New York added soon after that at a recent House Oversight Committee hearing, Mace “accused Joe Biden of bribery, money laundering, and orchestrating a prostitution ring. Now she says she hasn’t ‘researched’ the evidence that would support these claims.”
This wasn’t a great moment for the GOP congresswoman, but she was nevertheless invited onto CBS News’ “Face the Nation” a week later, sharing her perspective on why she voted to oust former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, and throwing her support behind far-right Rep. Jim Jordan as McCarthy’s possible successor.
Host Margaret Brennan reminded her guest, “I know you’ve been outspoken about defending victims of sexual assault. Do the past allegations against Jim Jordan that he turned a blind eye to sexual abuse give you any reservations? How do you square that?” According to the network transcript, Mace responded:
“Yeah, I’m not familiar or aware with that. He’s not indicted on anything that I’m aware of. And so I don’t I don’t know anything and I can’t speak to that. … I don’t know anything about that.”
Brennan was, of course, referring to allegations that Jordan turned a blind eye to sexual abuses at Ohio State during his tenure as a coach at the university. The accusations include claims from former student-athletes who were at the university during Jordan’s tenure. (Jordan has denied the allegations.)
This wasn’t an obscure controversy from the distant past: The allegations were a national news story in 2018 and 2019. To hear Mace tell it, however, she’s never even heard of the story. Meanwhile, in the same “Face the Nation” interview, the CBS host reminded her guest that McCarthy has said his ouster was a retaliatory scheme, launched by Rep. Matt Gaetz, because McCarthy supported an Ethics Committee investigation into the Florida Republican. Asked whether she has any concerns about this, Mace added, “Well, I don’t, again, he’s not indicted for anything. I don’t really, I don’t know much about it.” The South Carolinian’s critics have suggested Mace cares more about being on camera than doing the real work of being a member of Congress. Even Donald Trump has called her a “grandstanding loser.” Her latest on-air interviews probably won’t help in this regard.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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