Nancy Mace rips ABC's George Stephanopoulos over heated exchange: 'Tried to bully me'
Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., joined 'The Faulkner Focus' to discuss her heated exchange with the ABC anchor over her support for Trump and why she believes he was 'shaming' her over her political beliefs as a rape victim.
Nancy Mace ripped ABC's George Stephanopoulos over their contentious exchange Sunday where she called him out for "shaming" her political beliefs as a rape victim.
The congresswoman joined the "Faulkner Focus" on Monday to discuss the heated exchange where she claims she was bullied by the anchor over her endorsement of former President Trump. Stephanopoulos asked how Mace could support Trump after "judges and two separate juries found him liable for rape."
"Well, I will tell you, I was raped at the age of 16," Mace told Stephanopoulos. "Any rape victim will tell you, I've lived for 30 years with an incredible amount of shame for being raped. I didn't come forward because of that judgment and shame that I felt."
In 2019, Mace revealed she was a victim of rape as a teenager.
"It's a shame that you will never feel, George," Mace added. "I’m not going to sit here on your show and be asked a question meant to shame me about another potential rape victim."
Stephanopoulos told Mace that she was defending a man who was found liable for rape. Mace clarified that Trump actually was not accused of that in a criminal court of law and that the case he was referring to was a civil judgment over sexual abuse.
A federal jury in New York City decided last year that Trump was not liable for rape but was liable for sexual abuse and defamation. Trump intends to appeal the decision that was handed down in January that found him liable for defamatory statements made while denying the rape accusations made by Carroll.
Nancy Mace (Fox News)
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"I was so shocked and dismayed by the line of questioning," Mace told Faulkner. "George Stephanopoulos tried to bully me and shame me as a rape survivor over my support for Donald Trump, which is insane to me because he wasn't found guilty of rape anywhere. But, the other thing is that George Stephanopoulos has never felt the shame of rape. He does not know what this journey is like. It is a journey of healing over a lifetime."
"I will tell you, I've been built for tough," she continued.
"I've been through some very tough things, including the Citadel. The Citadel made me tougher than I've ever been. That guy playing Mr. Tough Guy yesterday, he would not last 30 seconds at the Citadel, the military college of South Carolina. He has no clue what he's talking about."
Mace pointed to the treatment she received from Stephanopoulos as a reason why women often do not come forward when they're assaulted due to fear about the judgment and shame.
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"Here he was judging me, bullying me and shaming me as a rape victim for my political choices, and it's wrong," she said.
"But it's almost like rape is bad unless you're a Republican and then we're going to shame you for it. The way that the left reacted, it's just a reflection of how bad Joe Biden's numbers are, that this is what they do to rape survivors, to rape victims, is shame them for their political choices."
George Stephanopoulos questioned Rep. Nancy Mace's endorsement of Donald Trump on Sunday, as a victim of rape, during an interview. (Left: (Photo by Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images), Right: (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images))
"I said my piece, I thought I did it more respectfully than I should have, than I probably wanted to, but it was horrifying," she added. "You can see my facial expression, because I was there to talk about 2024. I wasn't brought on to talk about my own rape. I didn't agree to any of that. He shares the speech, I gave an impassioned speech five years ago about telling my story for the first time. It's very difficult for me to watch that speech. It's painful and you can see it on my face. I was in dismay that this is where he was going with this. It was disgusting."
Mace concluded by prompting questions about what ABC's female leadership thought about the interview and the way Stephanopoulos spoke to her.
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The Disney-owned network stood by Stephanopoulos after the interview.
"George did his job by asking meaningful questions that are relevant to our viewers," an ABC News spokesperson told Fox News Digital.
Fox News' Timothy H.J. Nerozzi, Danielle Wallace and Jeffrey Clark contributed to this report.