Outgoing Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie said Sunday his efforts to force the release of Department of Justice files related to registered sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were what prompted establishment politicians in Washington to seek his ouster.
Ed Gallrein, a farmer and retired United States Navy SEAL, defeated Massie in Tuesday’s Republican primary election for the House of Representatives seat representing Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, receiving 54.4% of the vote, according to The Associated Press. Massie told “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker his decision to work with Democratic California Rep. Ro Khanna on legislation to require the DOJ to release the files prompted “the swamp” to target his reelection bid.
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“I think the biggest crime I committed against the swamp, Kristen, was showing the American people that somebody on the right could join somebody on the left and get something done, which is releasing the Epstein files that everybody knew needed to be done,” Massie claimed. “That’s probably the only bill that’s passed Washington, D.C. in the last 10 years that lobbyists haven’t written.”
“It was written by me and Ro Khanna and we used the pressure of the American people to cross the aisle and get things done,” Massie continued. “That’s when they decided I had to be taken out, that I was becoming effective. So, they wanted to eliminate me.”
Massie, who was seeking his ninth term in the House of Representatives, was one of four Republican members of the House of Representatives who signed a discharge petition to force a vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The bill passed the House with just one “no” vote.
Massie also clashed with the Trump administration on a host of other issues, including the president’s tariff policy, the One, Big, Beautiful Bill, and the conflict with Iran. Trump called Massie a “Third Rate Congressman” in a post on Truth Social and supported Gallrein’s primary challenge to the libertarian-leaning representative.
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