Representative Thomas Massie finally got the moment he had been waiting for. After months of public scolding from former President Donald Trump, pressure campaigns from House leadership and accusations of disloyalty from Trump’s inner circle, the Kentucky Republican took a well-earned victory lap Monday night on Anderson Cooper 360.
The celebration came after Trump abruptly reversed his opposition to a House vote on releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files, a turnaround that stunned even those who had been pushing the legislation from the start. Massie appeared on CNN alongside Democratic co-sponsor Ro Khanna and did not hide his satisfaction.
“Well, he got tired of us winning, and he decided to join us,” Massie said with a short laugh when Cooper asked about Trump’s sudden change of heart. “Look, they could have done this four months ago, and instead they fought us every bit of the way. Now they want to be on our side. We’ll accept their support.”
Massie added that supporters of the bill were “a little bit suspicious of this sudden turn of events,” noting that they were “worried that maybe they’ll try to muck it up in the Senate.” Still, he expected “a straight up or down vote” in the House and predicted “a very big vote… at least a veto-proof majority.”
Khanna echoed that confidence and credited Massie for standing up to the pressure campaign from Trump. “He can do math,” Khanna said of the former president, suggesting that Trump changed course once it became clear Massie had rallied enough Republicans to defy him. Khanna praised Massie for doing “a great job” bringing GOP lawmakers on board “in defiance of Donald Trump.”
Until last week, the effort to force a vote had stalled just one signature short, a blockade deliberately maintained by Republican leaders loyal to Trump. But that changed when Rep. Adelita Grijalva, a Democrat from Arizona, was finally sworn in after a 50-day delay in being seated. Grijalva signed the discharge petition within hours, giving the effort its required 218 signatures and guaranteeing the House would have to vote.
For months, Trump had railed against the legislation, calling the Epstein file push a “Democrat hoax” and publicly shaming Republicans who supported it. Advisers warned GOP lawmakers that backing Massie’s petition would mark them as “hostile” to the White House. Trump even took personal shots at Massie, mocking him online and lumping him in with Republicans he considered disloyal.
But once the math broke against him, Trump folded. On Sunday he posted on Truth Social that he believed House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, insisting, “We have nothing to hide,” even as he continued to label the furor political.
Massie and Khanna, who have emerged as an unlikely bipartisan duo, seemed content to let Trump’s reversal speak for itself. For them, the focus is now on finally prying loose long-hidden records related to Epstein, the convicted sex offender whose connections to powerful figures have fueled years of public suspicion.
The House is expected to vote on the measure Tuesday. If the overwhelming support Massie predicts materializes, the fight will move to the Senate and the political pressure on Trump to stay consistent with his new position will only intensify.
