A man accused by Congresswoman Nancy Mace of sexual abuse is hitting back at her allegations as “absolutely” false. The South Carolina lawmaker accused businessman Brian Musgrave, her ex-fiancé Patrick Bryant, and two other men of raping women and girls in their communities and taking videos of the events. 

“For the rest of my life, when someone Googles ‘Brian Musgrave’ this is going to be the thing that comes up,” Mr. Musgrave said in an interview with CNN on Monday. “I’m completely uncertain what tomorrow is going to be business-wise.”

“Our lives have been completely upended. We will never be able to go back to the way things were for us, which was nice and quiet and happy,” Mr. Musgrave added as he sat beside his wife. 

“He’s nowhere near any of those things that she was accusing him of,” his wife, Jen Musgrave, said. “Anyone who knows him, there’s just no way it would ever be possible so to have someone say something like that, in public, it just blew my mind.”

Ms. Mace has provided no concrete evidence that Messrs. Musgrave or Bryant, or the other two men, have committed the crimes of which they have been accused. 

Her ex-fiancé, Mr. Bryant, also denied allegations in a statement to NBC News, saying that he would “cooperate” with any investigation in order to clear his name. It is unclear if those four men accused of sexual abuse will have any kind of legal recourse to sue Ms. Mace for defamation, given she delivered her speech on the House floor. When members of Congress speak from that chamber, they are protected by the Speech and Debate Clause of the Constitution, which states that lawmakers “shall not be questioned in any other Place” about any remarks made during speeches or debates on either the House or Senate floor. 

Ms. Mace has been accused of using her speech last month for political purposes, given she attacked, by name, South Carolina’s attorney general Alan Wilson. Mr. Wilson — like Ms. Mace — is expected to run for governor next year. 

“In your system, attorney general Alan Wilson, women who come forward are threatened with investigations like I was. In your system, women who come forward are threatened with arrest, like I was. While the law’s explicit in protecting victims, in your system, you don’t follow the law,” Ms. Mace said on the House floor alongside a darkened photo of Mr. Wilson. “I waited 320 days before receiving a victim’s rights advocate, and only because I was persistent.” 

The South Carolina attorney general’s father, Congressman Joe Wilson, told the New York Sun in February that it’s clear Ms. Mace was using her Speech and Debate Clause privileges to issue “slanderous” allegations against his son. 

“It was a campaign speech, yes, but I think somehow she had been advised that she could make slanderous comments on the floor that would then preclude her from being sued for slander,” the elder Mr. Wilson said. “Hey, it’s a race for governor. She’s running against my son.”