A Kentucky congressman who spent months forcing the federal government’s hand on one of the most politically charged transparency fights in recent memory is now headed home to his farm — and he says that fight is exactly why.
Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican who has represented Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District since 2012, lost his May 19 primary race to Ed Gallrein, a retired Navy SEAL and fifth-generation Kentucky farmer backed by President Donald Trump.
Gallrein captured 54.4 percent of the vote, according to the Associated Press — ending Massie’s bid for a ninth term in the House.
On Sunday, Massie sat down with NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker and laid the blame squarely on his crusade to pry loose an estimated 100,000 Department of Justice files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“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 said. “That’s probably the only bill that’s passed Washington, D.C. in the last 10 years that lobbyists haven’t written.”
The legislation in question — the Epstein Files Transparency Act — was co-authored by Massie and Democratic California Rep. Ro Khanna.
The bill called for the release of flight logs, travel records, names of individuals and entities referenced in any Epstein case, and internal DOJ communications within 30 days.
It also sought to make public any records relating to the destruction, deletion, alteration, misplacement, or concealment of documents tied to Epstein and his associates, as well as documentation about his death.
Getting the measure to a vote required bypassing House Republican leadership entirely.
Massie relied on an obscure parliamentary maneuver called a discharge petition — a mechanism that, once signed by 218 members, forces legislation to the House floor regardless of what leadership wants.
Legislative records show discharge petitions are rarely successful.
In September, Massie stated that GOP leaders were in “full panic” over the petition and had “actually threatened” some of the cosigners — “politically, not physically.”
Every sitting House Democrat and three Republicans — Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, and Nancy Mace — signed on to the petition. The 218th and final signature came from newly sworn-in Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva of Arizona, moments after she took her oath of office.
The bill passed the House with just one “no” vote. Trump, who had initially opposed the legislation, ultimately signed it into law in November 2025.
Massie described the bipartisan effort on “Meet the Press” as one driven by public pressure rather than party leadership.
“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,” he said. “That’s when they decided I had to be taken out, that I was becoming effective, so they wanted to eliminate me.”
The Epstein fight was not Massie’s only source of friction with the White House.
He voted against Trump’s signature One Big Beautiful Bill spending package, opposed the administration’s tariff policy, and publicly criticized U.S. military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Trump called Massie a “Third Rate Congressman” on Truth Social and endorsed Gallrein before the challenger had even formally entered the race. Trump’s political operation stood up a super PAC called MAGA KY specifically to defeat Massie.
GOP megadonor Paul Singer contributed $1 million to the effort, and a super PAC linked to casino tycoon Miriam Adelson added another $750,000, according to Federal Election Commission records.
The contest became the most expensive House primary election in United States history.
Despite the loss, Massie vowed during the Sunday interview to keep working to identify names that remain redacted in the released Epstein documents.
On his political future, Massie left the door open without making any commitments.
“I will not rule out anything and, right now, I’m not going to rule in anything. Look, I’ve spent the last five days on my farm with my grandkids and my cattle and my peach trees, and it’s pretty nice life. I don’t know if I want to screw that up again,” he said.
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