The extraordinary lengths President Donald Trump allegedly went to keep his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein out of the spotlight included trying to poach the staff of a GOP nemesis.
Rep. Thomas Massie claims key members of his team were offered more prestigious jobs in the Trump administration in an effort to stall legislation that would have forced the Department of Justice to release all documents linked to Jeffrey Epstein, according to The Atlantic.
The Kentucky libertarian told the magazine there was a “360-pressure campaign” from the Trump administration to derail his push for a congressional vote on releasing the so-called Epstein files last summer—pressure so intense it rippled across his entire orbit.
Most notably, Massie recalled multiple instances in which his staffers were offered administration posts or lucrative private-sector roles. One employee, he told The Atlantic, received an offer that would have doubled his salary just weeks before the House was set to vote on releasing the files.
“Did it ever occur to you that they might be offering you this job to basically make me less effective?” Massie said he asked the staffer. The aide, who turned down the job, replied, “That’s what my mom said.”
The White House reportedly made similar overtures to the MAGA-aligned women in Congress who joined Massie and his Democratic ally, Rep. Ro Khanna, in spearheading the Epstein effort—including former Georgia lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene, South Carolina’s Nancy Mace, and Colorado’s Lauren Boebert.
The Republican lawmakers broke with the president and met with Jeffrey Epstein’s victims throughout the summer and fall. At one point, Boebert was summoned to the White House Situation Room for a meeting with Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, while Greene had a public falling-out with the president that ultimately led to her resignation.
Still, perhaps no one bore the brunt of Trump’s ire more than Massie, whom the president has repeatedly labeled a “loser” and a “moron.” Trump is now backing Massie’s primary challenger, Ed Gallrein, in the race for Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District.
“If the country’s savable, I’ll win my reelection,” Massie told The Atlantic. “And if it’s not, I don’t need to be there.”
For now, the congressman remains laser-focused on Trump’s relationship with America’s most notorious pedophile. While Trump begrudgingly signed Massie and Khanna’s Epstein Files Transparency Act into law last year, 3 million documents are still being withheld for various reasons.
“PSA: Bombing a country on the other side of the globe won’t make the Epstein files go away, any more than the Dow going above 50,000 will,” Massie wrote on X on Sunday after the president’s surprise strikes on Iran.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Massie’s representatives and the White House for comment.
