SC’s Nancy Mace joins Democrats in vote to hold Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress
U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace was the lone South Carolina Republican Thursday to join House Democrats in voting to hold former White House aide Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress for his refusal to cooperate with its investigation into the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
The final vote was 229-202, with Mace being one of just nine Republicans who voted for the resolution.
The vote puts the freshman lawmaker from South Carolina’s coastal 1st Congressional District at odds with House Republican leadership, including minority leader Kevin McCarthy and Republican Whip Steve Scalise.
Both of them endorsed Mace in her 2020 bid for Congress.
It also puts Mace in the minority of her own party and at odds with her five fellow South Carolina Republican House members in her home state’s congressional delegation, all of whom voted against the measure.
Even U.S. Rep. Tom Rice, R-Myrtle Beach, who voted to impeach Trump for incitement of an insurrection, voted against the measure Thursday to hold Bannon in contempt.
In explaining her vote, the Daniel Island Republican said by phone from Washington that her “yes” vote was about protecting the investigative and subpoena powers of Congress.
“This isn’t rocket science. It’s actually pretty simple,” Mace said.
Mace, who in January was appointed to the influential House Oversight and Reform Committee, said her vote was about not letting partisan politics get in the way of precedent.
“I want the ability to investigate and have subpoena power in the future, and I don’t want to water that down in the future because there are things I’m going to want to investigate. It goes both ways, right? This is a bipartisan issue,” Mace said.
But the partisan split over Bannon’s subpoena — and over the committee’s ongoing investigation — was on full display in the final vote, showing how strong the political divide still is in Congress more than nine months after the Capitol attack.
Back in the 1st Congressional District, Mace has faced sharp criticism from Trump loyalists who have questioned where her loyalties lie.
The day after the Jan. 6 attack, Mace told The State newspaper she no longer believed in Trump, the man she helped elect in 2016 as a coalitions director and field director for Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign
“I can’t condone the rhetoric from yesterday, where people died and all the violence. These were not protests. This was anarchy,” she said at the time.
It was a stunning departure for Mace, a freshman member of Congress whose own political rise is tied to Trump’s presidency. She has since drawn at least three Republican challengers for her seat.
Democrats have vowed to fully investigate the assault on Jan. 6, in which hundreds of Trump supporters fought their way past Capitol police and delayed the constitutional certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.
Even Mace herself voted against authorizing the Jan. 6 commission.
“On principle I was against it, but once it was created as a duly created committee,” Mace said, comparing its powers to the Benghazi Select Committee that was chaired by former South Carolina Congressman Trey Gowdy, “then they have the ability to subpoena.”
With the vote, the Justice Department will now consider whether or not to bring criminal charges against Bannon, a longtime ally of Donald Trump who served as the chief executive officer of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and served as his chief White House strategist for the first seven months of Trump’s tenure.
Bannon is considered a key witness for the congressional committee because he not only talked with Trump in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6, but he held a meeting with Trump allies on Jan. 5 at the Willard Hotel.
That same day, on his podcast, Bannon predicted, “All hell is going to break loose tomorrow.”
Bannon missed a scheduled deposition with the special panel last week and has ignored requests by the committee to produce requested materials. He cited a letter from Trump’s lawyer that directed him not to answer questions and, like Trump, Bannon has claimed executive privilege.
“Mr. Bannon has the right to invoke executive privilege, but he should do that before the committee,” Mace said.
Two of the Republicans who joined Mace in voting for the measure serve on the special congressional committee that is investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection: U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, Adam Kinzinger of Illinois.
Along with Cheney and Kinzinger, the other Republican members who joined Mace in voting for the resolution were: U.S. Rep. Fred Upton and Peter Meijer, both of Michigan; U.S. Rep. John Katko of New York, U.S. Rep. Anthony Gonzalez of Ohio, U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington.
Years ago, in 2017, Bannon brought his populist message to The Citadel, Mace’s alma mater. In 1999, Mace made history when she became the first woman to graduate from The Citadel Corps of Cadets.
While addressing The Citadel Republican Society, Bannon brought the crowd to its feet during his speech in which he told them, “It’s time for us to get angry again.”
This story was originally published October 21, 2021 at 5:11 PM.
