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One of Donald Trump's most vocal critics in Congress is reminding the president that an attack on Iran will not serve as an effective distraction from his domestic problems, particularly the Epstein files. That is from a jointly published report at the Daily Beast and Yahoo! News under the headline "GOP Rep Exposes Real Reason for Trump's War." Laura Esposito writes:
Donald Trump’s primary Republican critic suggests the president’s military operation in Iran has ulterior motives.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) issued a pointed reminder on Sunday that war won’t distract him from his push to force the Department of Justice to release all documents linked to Jeffrey Epstein.
“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,” the Kentucky libertarian wrote on X.
Massie hints that, in his view, the Iran War and similar distractionary events are part of a Trumpian plan to put the Epstein files on the back burner of news reports. Esposito writes:
Massie is one of several Trump critics who have accused the president of staging foreign policy crises and other White House controversies to deflect scrutiny from his historic relationship with Epstein, particularly as new Justice Department documents related to the late sex trafficker’s crimes are released.
In January, critics also alleged that the administration’s capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro served as a temporary reprieve from bipartisan pressure surrounding Trump’s ties to Epstein, who once described himself as Trump’s “closest friend.”
Massie and his Democratic ally, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), spearheaded the Epstein Files Transparency Act (EFTA) —which Trump begrudgingly signed into law—directing the Department of Justice to release all files connected to Epstein, who died in 2019, by Dec. 19, 2025.
The DOJ has released more than 3 million files related to Epstein, though another 3 million remain withheld for various reasons.
Massie's critiques of Trump go well beyond the Epstein files, producing pushback from the president:
Massie has also been a thorn in Trump’s side ahead of the president’s military action in Iran.
“Congress must vote on war according to our Constitution,” the congressman wrote on X on Feb. 19. He said he and Khanna “will be forcing that vote to happen in the House as soon as possible. I will vote to put America first which means voting against more war in the Middle East.”
Massie and Khanna are expected to bring forward a vote as early as this week aimed at curbing Trump’s military action without congressional approval.
That effort did not deter the president’s major attack Saturday morning, which reportedly included a direct hit on the Shajareye Tayabeh girls’ school in Minab, Hormozgan Province, killing at least 43 students and wounding 63 others, according to the Iranian state news agency Islamic Republic News Agency.
Early Saturday morning, Massie again took to X to voice his disapproval.
“Acts of war unauthorized by Congress,” Massie wrote, linking to an Associated Press article titled “U.S. and Israel launch a major attack on Iran, and Trump urges Iranians to take over.”
In a separate post, Massie slammed Trump’s military action as an act of hypocrisy.
“I am opposed to this war,” he wrote in a post viewed 4.2 million times at the time of publication. “This is not ‘America First.’”
Massie continued: “When Congress reconvenes, I will work with [Ro Khanna] to force a Congressional vote on war with Iran. The Constitution requires a vote, and your Representative needs to be on record as opposing or supporting this war.”
As has become his custom with critics, Trump fired plenty of insults in Massie's direction, while becoming a fan of Massie's political opponent. From the Daily Beast report:
The president has repeatedly referred to Massie as a “loser” and a “moron” and is backing his primary opponent, Ed Gallrein, in the race for Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District.
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