President Donald Trump blasted Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), calling for him to be thrown out of the Republican Party.
Massie has infuriated many of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle who blame him for forcing Congress to travel back to Washington, D.C., to ensure that a coronavirus spending package is approved.
Trump wrote in a Friday morning tweet, āLooks like a third rate grandstander named Thomas Massie, a Congressman from, unfortunately, a truly GREAT State, Kentucky, wants to vote against the new Save Our Workers Bill in Congress. He just wants the publicity. He canāt stop it, only delay, which is both dangerous and costly.ā
The president added that he wants Republicans to win back the House, but wants Massie out of the Republican Party.
āIt is āHELLā dealing with the Dems, had to give up some stupid things in order to get the ābig pictureā done. 90% GREAT! WIN BACK HOUSE, but throw Massie out of Republican Party!ā he wrote.
Fridayās tweet was not the first time that Trump took a shot at Massie. During Thursdayās press conference, he seemed to reference the Kentucky congressman, saying, āThere could be one vote, one vote, one grandstander, you might have one grandstander, and for that weāll have to come back and take a little more time.ā
Some Republican members of Congress were also critical of Massie before the Friday morning Trump tweet.
Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.) wrote on Friday morning, āHeading to Washington to vote on pandemic legislation. Because of one Member of Congress refusing to allow emergency action entire Congress must be called back to vote in House. Risk of infection and risk of legislation being delayed.ā
āDisgraceful. Irresponsible,ā he added.
The speculation is that Massie would object to the coronavirus package.
In a recent radio interview, he defended his play that forced lawmakers to come back to Washington, saying, āIf congressmen are complaining that itās hard to travel, well, what about the truckers that I saw on the road when I drove to DC? Hitch a ride with the trucker.ā