Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) caused a public “spectacle” at an airport in Charleston, South Carolina, where she hurled profanities and insults at airport employees in October, a police investigation concluded.
The widely reported encounter started with Mace complaining about the color of the vehicle in which she arrived at Charleston International Airport. The on-duty police supervisor incorrectly told three officers to look for the congresswoman in a white BMW. Mace arrived in a grey/silver BMW.
The “minor miscommunication,” as the Charleston Airport Police Department described it, meant that officers who would have escorted Mace through security were looking for the wrong vehicle. The department said Mace should have waited in her vehicle until the officers arrived.
“While it is clear that we hold a certain level of responsibility in miscommunicating the color of Congresswoman Mace’s vehicle, it’s also equally clear that her continued failure to follow established procedures at the checkpoint is what turned a minor miscommunication over the color of a vehicle into the spectacle that this issue has become for our employees and airport workers,” Charleston Airport Police Chief James Woods wrote in a Nov. 12 report unveiled Monday.
Instead of waiting in her vehicle as instructed, Mace walked to the security checkpoint, where she caused a scene in front of airport police and Transportation Security Administration personnel.
The South Carolina Republican used the f-bomb several times, according to the detailed report. At one point, she called the airport staff “f***ing idiots” and “f***ing incompetent,” referring to herself as a “f***ing representative.”
While speaking over the phone, Mace said “she shouldn’t have to wait” and asked why she wasn’t “being treated like a senator.”
After interacting with her, a TSA officer recounted how she was “very nasty, very rude.”
When the officers who caught up with the congresswoman merely said she arrived in a slightly different vehicle than what was described to them, Mace replied, “I’m sick of your s***. I’m tired of having to wait. I should not have to wait. You guys are always [f***ing] late. This is [f***ing] ridiculous.”
The report noted how Mace has repeatedly failed to communicate the correct arrival times and locations to airport police. The lawmaker’s security staff also alleged that there have been multiple threats to her safety, but airport police never received any of that information when requested.
In response, Mace’s office told the Washington Post that she was fully exonerated by the released report. After the Oct. 30 incident, she went on to sue American Airlines and Charleston International Airport for defamation. Notably, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) criticized his colleague for her erratic behavior.
The incident and the subsequent backlash against her come as the congresswoman is running for governor of South Carolina next year.
NANCY MACE BERATED OFFICERS AND TSA AGENTS AT AIRPORT: POLICE
South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, who is also vying for the state’s gubernatorial GOP nomination, released a campaign statement calling on Mace to apologize for her public outburst.
“There is no excuse for Nancy Mace’s behavior. Period,” Wilson’s deputy campaign manager, Claire Brady, said on Tuesday. “South Carolina families deserve a Governor who is level-headed, controls their emotions, and respects law enforcement. If she can’t respect law enforcement in an airport, how can anyone expect her to make tough decisions as Governor?”
