US Capitol Police arrest suspect that Representative Nancy Mace says attacked her

The U.S. Capitol Police said they arrested a person suspected of assaulting Republican U.S. Representative Nancy Mace, who recently introduced a bill aimed at blocking the chamber's first openly transgender member from using women's bathrooms.

Capitol Police said they arrested James McIntyre, 33, of Illinois in the Rayburn House office building after Mace's report and he is charged with assaulting a government official.

Police did not elaborate on the incident or provide a motive. McIntyre was not immediately available for comment.

"I was physically accosted tonight on Capitol grounds over my fight to protect women. Capitol police have arrested him," Mace said in an X post Tuesday evening. "All the violence and threats keep proving our point. Women deserve to be safe."

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Mace said President-elect Donald Trump called her Wednesday to check in on her.

Others described a different version of events involving McIntyre, an activist in foster care policy issues.

"I want to express deep disappointment in the fact that Congresswoman Nancy Mace came to a national foster youth event, told participating youth that it was a safe space - and literally had one of them arrested by Capital police for simply shaking her hand and asking about trans rights," Lisa Dickson, an advocate for foster youth from Ohio, said in a Facebook post.

McIntyre went through security screening before entering the congressional buildings, the police said in a statement.

Democrat Sarah McBride won election in November to become the House of Representatives' first openly transgender member. She previously said that she would comply with an order by Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson on bathroom usage, but called it a distraction from more serious issues.

Lawmakers in 37 U.S. states introduced at least 142 bills to restrict gender-affirming healthcare for trans and gender-expansive people in 2023, Reuters reported, nearly three times as many as the previous year.