Thomas Massie has never been one to shy away from controversy, but his latest claim is turning heads even by Washington standards. In a wide-ranging conversation with Tucker Carlson, the Kentucky Republican said that First Lady Melania Trump appears to agree with his long-held position that Jeffrey Epstein operated with the help of others.
"The president's own children, the vice president, the FBI director, and the president himself all said they would release the Epstein files," Massie told Carlson. "I worked harder than anybody else to get it done and got it done."
He then went a step further: "It seems like the first lady agrees with me that Jeffrey Epstein did not act alone, and the files show that he did not act alone."
Melania's Rare Public Statement
Massie's comments came on the heels of a rare public address by Melania Trump in April, during which she called on Congress to bring Epstein's survivors before a public hearing. In that speech, she also took the opportunity to firmly distance herself from any association with Epstein denying she ever set foot on his private island or boarded his plane. She said her name appears nowhere in court records connected to his crimes and called online speculation linking her to Epstein false and defamatory.
A Man Under Fire From His Own Party
While Massie is busy making noise about Epstein, he's also fighting a battle on the home front within the Republican Party. His splits with Trump particularly over U.S. policy toward Iran have cost him the former president's goodwill in a big way.
Trump has thrown his full support behind Ed Gallrein, a challenger running against Massie in Kentucky's 4th congressional district primary. In a blistering Truth Social post back in March, Trump called Massie "the Republican Party's Worst 'Congressman,' EVER," adding that he is "a COMPLETE AND TOTAL DISASTER as a Congressman, and a Human Being." Trump accused Massie of disloyalty to the party, to Kentucky, and to the country itself wrapping it all up with a sharp "MISFIT" label for good measure.
Massie Hits Back Over Greene Controversy
The interview with Carlson also touched on Marjorie Taylor Greene, the former Georgia congresswoman who resigned from her seat in January after breaking with Trump over several issues, including the Epstein files. Greene, once a fierce Trump loyalist, recently claimed that after informing Trump about death threats she had been receiving, he told her it was her own fault and that if her son were killed, she'd deserve it because she had been disloyal to him.
Massie didn't hold back. He called Trump's alleged remarks "despicable."
The White House, for its part, didn't directly respond to Greene's claim. Spokesperson Davis Ingle instead took a swipe at Greene's decision to leave Congress mid-term, saying there's "nothing more 'America Last' than quitting on your constituents and the MAGA movement."
Where the Race Actually Stands
Despite all the noise, Massie appears to still be holding his ground in the polls at least for now. A Big Data Poll from early April put him ahead of Gallrein 52 to 48 percent among 433 likely voters, a tight but real margin.
A separate poll by Quantus Insights painted a slightly more comfortable picture for Massie, showing him with 46.8 percent support compared to Gallrein's 37.7 percent, with around 14 percent still undecided. That survey covered 438 likely Republican primary voters and carried a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
The race is far from over, and with Trump actively campaigning against him, Massie's path to re-election will depend heavily on how much sway the former president still holds in his home district. For now, Massie seems unbothered still talking Epstein, still pushing back, and still very much in the fight.
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