Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie has sharply criticized President Donald Trump over his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case. Massie has accused the White House of lacking transparency and called it the “Epstein administration.”
During an appearance over the weekend on ABC News’ This Week, the West Virginia native addressed a House Judiciary Committee hearing examining Attorney General Pam Bondi’s management of all files related to Epstein, the late sex offender.
Massie claimed that despite Trump’s long-standing promises of being transparent about the Epstein controversy, the latter has failed to keep his word.
Trump had initially denied his association with Epstein in several media interviews until old pictures from the early 2000s resurfaced. The photos showed Trump socializing with Epstein in New York City and West Palm Beach. The 79-year-old president, however, has not been accused of any wrongdoing related to the case.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) file stated that Epstein introduced First Lady Melania Trump to the president, and the couple also spent time during their courtship period in Epstein’s plane, the Lolita Express.
“Donald Trump told us that even though he had dinner with these people in New York City and West Palm Beach, that he would be transparent. But he’s not. He’s still in with the Epstein class. This is the Epstein administration,” ” Massie said.
According to The Daily Beast, the Kentucky Republican has been a vocal critic of Trump in recent months, particularly over what he describes as efforts to expose details regarding the Epstein files.
Massie co-sponsored the Epstein Files Transparency Act with Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna in July 2025, following which the bill became law. The case took a big leap after the DOJ released 11,000 files related to Epstein, adding to a massive dump in December 2025.
This release had about 10 gigabytes of data. Even though the DOJ later deleted some of these files, they released explicit images of girls and young women, text messages and names of people including Trump, Prince Andrew, Bill Gates, Bill Clinton and Elon Musk.
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The DOJ has faced criticism for disclosing only about half of the 6 million documents and for allegedly failing to redact identifying information of Epstein’s survivors properly.
Virginia Giuffre was a survivor of the sex trafficking racket. She raised her voice against the convicted abuser, who died in jail. Giuffre also tried to reveal the names of people who were also involved in the business with him.
Giuffre died in April 2025 at the age of 41. She wrote a memoir called Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Surviving Abuse and Fighting for Justice, which was released on October 21, 2025.
The entire racket was allegedly based on emotional manipulation, targeting girls who were vulnerable and likely to agree to do what was asked of them in exchange for money or promises of modeling or acting opportunities.
Meanwhile, Massie’s repeated push for the truth regarding the files has also drawn criticism.
Trump’s political operation reportedly backed a $1 million effort to remove him and rally against him and Kentucky candidate Ed Gallrein, calling Massie a “RINO” (Republican in name only).
Massie suggested that some of the donors supporting efforts against him may have ties to the powerful names mentioned in the Epstein files.
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“The people who are funding the attacks against me, they may or may not be implicated in these files, but they were certainly rubbing shoulders with the people who are in these files,” he said.
“They’re billionaires who are friends with these people and that’s what I’m up against in Washington, D.C.”, he added.
