Nancy Mace aide reveals why lawmaker wanted to be punched in face on Jan 6

The January 6 insurrection took place just three days into Rep Nancy Mace’s congressional career. Wanting to hit the ground running in Washington, the South Carolina freshman came up with an idea to “get punched in the face” to gain some traction with the media and bring attention to herself as hundreds of violent Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol unable to accept that their candidate had lost the 2020 election, according to a new report.

The last standing presidential candidate in the way of the increasingly inevitable third consecutive nomination of that candidate – former President Donald Trump – is his former UN ambassador and the ex-South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. She endorsed Ms Mace, who represents the district where Ms Haley lives, in her 2022 race for her House seat against a challenger backed by Mr Trump.

But just this week, Ms Mace chose not to return the favour and endorsed Mr Trump.

Ms Mace was sworn in on 3 January 2021 with the idea of becoming a “new voice” for the GOP. During the attack on the US Capitol three days later, Ms Mace grew irate with Mr Trump, suggesting to her aides that she confront the rioters and “get punched in the face”, and as such become the frontperson for Republicans not supporting Mr Trump, former staffers said, according to The Washington Post.

Ms Mace told her staff during the Capitol riot that she was a “never-Trumper”. She made the suggestion to her staff regarding the possible confrontation as she was hiding with aides in her Cannon House building office, which is part of the Capitol complex, while they watched the rioters enter the congressional building on TV.

Her former aides told The Post that she thought that if there was footage being shared on social