Nancy Mace Stays Up ‘All Night’ Programming Bots on Social Media, Ex-Aide Alleges

Among… other pretty shocking allegations about the congresswoman, including that she’s attempting to extort her ex-fiancé to seize ownership of their shared houses.

By Kylie Cheung | May 22, 2025 | 3:02pm

Photo: Getty Images Latest Politics

Nancy Mace Stays Up ‘All Night’ Programming Bots on Social Media, Ex-Aide Alleges

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) has been in the news a lot lately, but never for anything related to her legislation or services to her district. Thursday’s headlines were no exception: The Daily Beast obtained an 81-page deposition taken from Wesley Donehue, Mace’s former political adviser, as part of an ongoing legal battle between Mace and her ex-fiancé, Patrick Bryant. In the deposition, which took place in April, Donehue made a number of allegations against Mace, including that she’s attempting to extort Bryant to seize ownership of their shared houses. Of course, buried in the deposition is an arguably even more shocking allegation: that Mace stays up “all night” programming bots on social media.

Mace “sits all night on the couch and programs bots, because she’s very, very computer savvy,” Donehue claimed. It’s not entirely clear what she programs those bots to do, but bots are typically used to harass one’s online enemies or, in some cases, boost one’s own posts with complimentary comments. This allegation isn’t particularly surprising—Mace is famously addicted to social media, often wielding even her official congressional social media accounts to harass trans people, post awkward-looking selfies of herself next to bathroom signs, or yell at her own constituents for trying to meet with her.

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In any case, I’m clearly stuck on that little tidbit from the deposition, but it’s admittedly not the biggest bombshell allegation from Donehue.

ICYMI, since February, Mace has alleged that Bryant and three other men drugged and assaulted her as well as other women and underage girls. (Thus far, Mace has only publicly made these allegations while speaking on the House floor in her capacity as a congresswoman, granting her immunity from legal repercussions. Bryant and the other men Mace is accusing point to this as evidence that her allegations against them are false.) Mace further claims the men also have a trove of intimate photos and videos of her and their other victims, and went so far as to share a nude photo of herself in question as evidence of this during a shocking House hearing on Tuesday.

Donehue alleges that all of this started when, one day, while they were still engaged, Mace searched Bryant’s phone because she began to suspect that he was cheating on her. Mace claims she uncovered photos of women in compromising positions and has since been trying to wield these photos as a means to extort him and secure sole ownership of their shared houses in Washington, D.C., and South Carolina’s Isle of Palms. As Donehue put it, Mace is trying “to use all the information that she found as leverage to gain 100 percent ownership” of the properties.

“Did Nancy ever task you with communicating with Patrick Bryant about her possession of these alleged photographs in asking you to essentially help her blackmail Patrick into giving over 100 percent ownership?” a lawyer for Bryant asked Donehue, per the filing obtained by the Daily Beast. “Yes,” Donehue replied.

Donehue further claimed that, after finding the photos, Mace said she feared for her safety around Bryant. But when Donehue advised that, in that case, she should refrain from going on their planned vacation, Mace refused. “I said, ‘Nancy, you can’t say you fear for your safety and you’re going to the Caribbean with him and some of his friends,’” Donehue said in the deposition. “Then she said—I remember as clear as day—‘I’m taking my free vacation to the Caribbean.’”

Elsewhere in the deposition, Donehue recounted seriously inappropriate behaviors from Mace while working for her. “Nancy talks about her sex life in a way that I’ve never heard a client or a woman talk,” he said. “It’s like every conversation would devolve into what’s going on in her sex life.”

That is… not just inappropriate but abusive and exploitative coming from one’s superior.

A spokesperson for Mace’s congressional office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Jezebel about Donehue’s allegations.

On Tuesday, while presenting evidence against Bryant and the other men Mace is accusing, she said she would “run through a brick wall to protect women and girls in South Carolina and to other potential victims.” Alas, I can’t stress enough that, if anything, Mace is actively harming other victims and survivors. Much of her so-called advocacy has come in the form of thinly veiled attacks on immigrants and trans people. And, according to Donehue’s deposition, her allegations against Bryant are rooted in a cynical, self-serving ploy.

In a statement to Politico this week, Bryant called Mace’s allegations “false” and “outrageous.” He continued, “I have never raped anyone. I have never hidden cameras. I have never harmed any woman. These accusations are not just false—they are malicious and deeply personal.” Bryant and the other men accused by Mace have since sued her for defamation, and that legal battle remains ongoing.

I’m willing to bet we’ll be hearing more news about Mace soon, and, as has been the case for months now, I highly doubt it will relate to her passing any bills.

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