The chief of staff for Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) has resigned amid the congresswoman’s feud with House conservatives, Breitbart News has learned exclusively.
Mara Mellstrom, Mace’s chief of staff in her congressional office, turned in her resignation on Wednesday, a senior congressional aide confirmed to Breitbart News. Mellstrom has not replied to a request for comment on Wednesday evening. Sources familiar, however, told Breitbart News that Mellstrom had been pursuing other opportunities in the 2022 election cycle for a long time before this episode emerged.
This development comes while the congresswoman is mired in drama and infighting with Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).
Mace condemned Boebert for comments she made about Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), a member of the socialist so-called “Squad,” prompting Greene to attack her as “the trash in the GOP conference.”
Boebert’s feud with Omar got particularly nasty this week as videos surfaced of the Colorado conservative making tasteless terrorist jokes about the Muslim congresswoman. Boebert apologized publicly for the comments, and after House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and House Democrat Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) intervened, Boebert and Omar had a phone call which reportedly quickly went off the rails. In it, Omar reportedly demanded more out of Boebert, which Boebert reportedly responded to with a demand for an apology from Omar for past discretions including antisemitism. Omar hung up on Boebert, and that became the narrative—with even former President Donald Trump jumping in on the fun to bash Omar more with a demand for an apology for a number of outlandish things and the story seemed to be slipping off the front pages before House Democrats could mobilize an effort to vote to strip Boebert of her committee assignments like they had previously done to Greene and Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) earlier this year.
But, then, Mace, in a Monday CNN appearance, ripped Boebert by saying that she has “time after time condemned my colleagues on both sides of the aisle for racist tropes and remarks that I find disgusting and this is no different than any other.”
“We all have a responsibility … to lower the temperature, and this does not do that,” Mace told CNN.
In response, on Tuesday, Greene lashed out at Mace calling her “the trash in the GOP conference” and saying that Mace should “back up off of” Boebert and instead “go hang with your real gal pals, the Jihad Squad.”
That prompted nasty responses from Mace to Greene, including these:
*you’re
And, while I’m correcting you, I’m a pro-life fiscal conservative who was attacked by the Left all weekend (as I often am) as I defied China while in Taiwan.
What I’m not is a religious bigot (or racist). You might want to try that over there in your little “league.” https://t.co/nIbqjiJaFH
— Nancy Mace (@NancyMace) November 30, 2021
This is what 💩 looks like. https://t.co/nIbqjiJaFH
— Nancy Mace (@NancyMace) November 30, 2021
The feud has dominated headlines all week, with Democrats and establishment media outlets using it to divide House Republicans at a critical time for the party days ahead of government funding, debt ceiling, and defense authorization legislative battles, as well as a looming fight in the U.S. Senate over the partisan “Build Back Better” multitrillion-dollar spending plan central to Democrat President Joe Biden’s agenda. Sources familiar with the matter told Breitbart News that GOP leaders and lawmakers are furious with Mace, who they see as the person who has kept this story alive all week.
Mace, who actually voted against impeaching Trump, has earned his ire in recent months to the point where he publicly called for a primary challenger against her. Her vote to back up the Democrats’ January 6 Committee subpoena of former Trump adviser Steve Bannon was one of many that has reportedly infuriated Trump. In addition to her votes, various comments she has made have also angered Trump.
Ingrid Centurion, a U.S. Army and immigration law enforcement veteran running against Mace in the GOP primary next year in South Carolina, slammed Mace in a recent Breitbart News radio exclusive saying she turned her back on Trump.
“She’s playing both sides. She wants to cater to all those people out there who hate and despise Trump,” Centurion said. “And we see that in her voting record and what she does.”
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