'I've got seven months left': Thomas Massie references Epstein files in his concession speech
Congressman Thomas Massie, a vocal Republican critic of President Donald Trump, lost his fight for re-election to a challenger endorsed by the president, Ed Gallrein. Massie has had a contentious relationship for nearly a decade with the President, which was evident in Trump's campaigning for Gallrein in the most expensive primary elections ever. However, in his concession speech, Massie indicated that he plans to go down swinging, referring to the Epstein Files Act and his push for full release of government records related to the late convicted sex offender.
After Massie's loss in the Kentucky primary, Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL, will now compete in November's midterm election. Trump repeatedly called for voters to back Gallrein over Massie, whom he described as a "major sleazebag" and "the worst Republican congressman in history." In his concession speech, the seven-term congressman said, "We weren't running against Ed Gallrein. We weren't running against Donald Trump. We were running for what we believe in."
After talking about a range of issues, he briefly referenced the Epstein Transparency Act, which he co-authored and spearheaded alongside Democratic Representative Ro Khanna. "By the way, today is the six-month anniversary of the Epstein Files Transparency Act," Massie said in his speech. "We've taken out two dozen CEOs, an ambassador, a prince, a prime minister, a minister of culture," he went on, claiming that all of this was done in six months, and he has seven more left in Congress.
The President and Massie's contentious relationship dates back to Trump's first term, when the Congressman moved to block the swift passage of a COVID-19 relief bill during the pandemic. Trump then called him a "third-rate grandstander," demanding that he be removed from the Republican Party. Massie was also one of the two GOP members who voted against the "One Big Beautiful Bill," citing concerns with national debt. However, critics argue that the final straw for Trump was when Massie helped to lead the push for the full release of the Epstein files. "Releasing the Epstein files put me on the wrong side of the President for quite a while, but on the right side of my constituents, who had been promised that we would release the Epstein files," Massie said, according to NBC News.
So far, the fallout of the release has primarily affected foreign leaders and politicians. The people he mentioned in his speech included Borge Brende, a former foreign minister of Norway, who resigned as president and chief executive of the World Economic Forum after it was revealed that he had stayed in contact with Epstein after his conviction. The prince he referred to is Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, who was arrested by the British police over suspicions of misconduct in public office after accusations emerged of him sharing confidential information with Epstein while serving as a British trade envoy, according to the New York Times.
However, in the U.S., in the several months since the Department of Justice released its latest batch of files, prosecutors have not brought any new charges against any of the people named in the documents. According to NPR, the top Justice Department officials say that they have found no evidence compelling enough to pursue further charges, and the public can make their own assessments based on the disclosed information. Recently, the office of the Inspector General of the DOJ said it was opening an investigation into whether the agency is complying with a law passed that forced the release of files.
