According to a police report, U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, a Republican contender for governor of South Carolina, verbally abused police officers and TSA personnel at Charleston International Airport on Thursday morning while ready to fly abroad.
The Charleston County Aviation Authority Police Department report and security footage were published Friday afternoon following media inquiries.
Mace flew out of Charleston around 7:30 a.m. As a member of Congress, she is led through TSA security inspections at airports.
Members of Congress go through the screening process, which includes stepping through a metal detector and having their bags checked by an X-ray machine. However, they may coordinate with local security professionals at the airport to be led through security, allowing them to complete the process more smoothly.
According to an airport police report made by officers Aaron Reed and Earnest Southers, Mace was due to meet with officers at the ticketing vestibule at 6:30 a.m. Officers stated that they were warned she would arrive in a white BMW. The officers were then informed that she was running 10 to 15 minutes late.
Early Friday evening, Mace’s campaign revealed a text message received to Charleston airport security on Wednesday indicating that she would be dropped off curbside in a silver BMW.
At 6:51 a.m., surveillance footage shows Mace arriving in a gray or silver vehicle. She surveyed the passenger drop-off area before exiting the van and proceeding to the terminal. Mace then walked to the TSA screening checkpoint and waited for many minutes at a crew-only entry until three airport police officers arrived to accompany her to the boarding area for her flight to Chicago.
“During the escort, Rep. Mace was talking loudly using profanity at times for others to hear,” according to a police investigation. “It appeared she was either dictating a message into her phone or talking to someone about the situation.”
In a separate note to a police lieutenant, Reed states that Mace was “loudly cursing and making derogatory comments to us and about the department.”
“She repeatedly said we were ‘fg incompetent’ and ‘this is no way to treat a fg United States Representative.'” “She also stated that we would never treat (US Senator) Tim Scott in this manner,” Reed’s message reads. “The entire walk to gate B-8, she was cursing and complaining and often doing the same into her phone.”
According to the police report, Mace continued her tirade while waiting many minutes before boarding her aircraft.
According to Reed, a TSA supervisor reported that Mace spoke with multiple TSA personnel in the same manner and “he was very upset with how she acted at the checkpoint.”
The TSA agent also intended to submit a report to his superiors during a time when TSA agents are not paid because to the ongoing federal government shutdown.
“Any other person at the airport acting and talking the way she did, our department would have been dispatch(ed) and we would have addressed the behavior,” Reed explained.
Cameron Morabito, Mace’s director of operations, later issued a statement.
“We are forced to take the congresswoman’s safety extremely seriously,” she stated. “After the world witnessed Charlie Kirk’s assassination, the threats against her have only grown. Our security protocols are completely based on actual safety concerns, and any attempt to politicize this reality is risky and unwise.”
However, Mace commented on social media before the police report was public.
“I’m hearing the ‘rumor’ that TSA wouldn’t let me through. This is false. “And is a silly rumor,” Mace wrote at 1:38 p.m.
