A former aide for Rep. Nancy Mace has accused the congresswoman of introducing a resolution to ban transgender women from using women’s bathrooms at the Capitol as a craven attempt to get on Fox News.
“If you think this bill is about protecting women and not simply a ploy to get on Fox News, you’ve been fooled,” Mace’s former communications director Natalie Johnson wrote in a post on X.
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On Monday, Mace introduced a resolution aimed at preventing incoming Rep. Sarah McBride (D-DE), who earlier this month made history as the first openly transgender woman elected to Congress, from using the women’s bathrooms at the Capitol.
Two days later, House Speaker Mike Johnson issued a statement saying single-sex facilities would be reserved for members of that biological sex but said unisex bathrooms are available through the Capitol.
That didn’t end Mace’s bathroom fixation, though; Now she’s introducing a bill to ban all “biological men” from using any women’s restroom on federal property. Critics noted Mace had posted about bathrooms 262 times in 36 hours on the social media platform X.
“Tweeting 262 times about a bill that applies to like .00000001% of Congress in 36 hours is definitely about protecting women. It’s certainly not just a ploy for media attention,” wrote Natalie Johnson, who now works in marketing in Wyoming, according to her LinkedIn profile.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Mace’s team for comment.
McBride said in a statement she’s “not here to fight about bathrooms” and would respect congressional rules, even if she disagreed with them.
“This is a blatant attempt from far right-wing extremists to distract from the fact that they have no real solutions to what Americans are facing,” she said soon after Mace introduced her original resolution. “We should be focused on bringing down the cost of housing, health care, and child care, not manufacturing culture wars.”
Mace’s former aide doesn’t seem to have abandoned her conservative beliefs. She recently posted that she finds white liberal women “insufferable” and that the newly elected Senate GOP leader John Thune is “bringing sexy back to the Senate.”
But even she agreed with McBride that women were facing more pressing issues than bathrooms.
“‘Protecting women’ in Congress would be introducing a bill to bar Matt Gaetz, a sexual predator with an affinity for underage girls, from ever walking the halls again, rather than dropping a messaging bill that’s sole goal is getting on TV,” Johnson added.
Gaetz, 42, stepped down from Congress last week just days before the House Ethics Committee was set to decide whether to release a report on allegations the former Florida representative had paid for sex, abused illegal drugs, and had underage sex.
Gaetz has denied the allegations. He is now president-elect Donald Trump’s nomination for attorney general.
Last week, when Speaker Johnson called for the Ethics Committee report to remain confidential, Natalie Johnson weighed in: “I like Speaker Johnson, but this ain’t it.”
