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Republican Representative Thomas Massie has launched a sharp critique of the Trump administration, dubbing it the ‘Epstein administration’ as he accused Attorney General Pam Bondi of withholding documents linked to the late Jeffrey Epstein.
Speaking on ABC’s This Week, the Kentucky lawmaker intensified the ongoing debate between former President Trump and Congress, which is pressing for more openness regarding Epstein’s files.
Massie did not hold back, criticizing the Department of Justice for not fulfilling the transparency that President Trump had pledged to deliver.
“Donald Trump assured us that despite his past associations with these individuals in New York City and West Palm Beach, he would be transparent, but that hasn’t happened,” Massie stated.
“He remains aligned with the Epstein circle. This administration is essentially the Epstein administration,” he concluded.
The extraordinary rebuke from a sitting Republican congressman laid bare a deepening fracture inside the GOP over the handling of the Epstein files, transforming what had once been a simmering dispute into a full-blown internal revolt.
The Kentucky Republican went further, suggesting that entrenched wealth and political influence were working against efforts to expose the truth.
‘There are billionaires that are friends with these people, and that’s what I’m up against in D.C.,’ Massie said.
The stunning remarks continued a bitter confrontation between Massie and the Trump administration – one fueled by mounting anger over delays, redactions, and access restrictions surrounding the Epstein files.
Republican Rep. Thomas Massie publicly labeled Donald Trump’s presidency the ‘Epstein administration’ during an interview on ABC’s This Week on Sunday morning
Last week, Attorney General Pam Bondi defended the Justice Department’s handling of the Epstein files telling lawmakers, ‘You sit here and you attack the president and I’m not going to have it.’
The disgraced pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and then-real estate developer Donald Trump are seen posing together at the Mar-a-Lago estate, Palm Beach, Florida in 1997
Massie has emerged as one of the most persistent critics of the Justice Department’s handling of the case, helping lead a rare bipartisan discharge petition alongside Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna that forced the government to release its Epstein-related evidence.
The measure ultimately passed Congress and was signed into law by Trump – but only after widespread pressure from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.
Despite that victory, Massie and other lawmakers say key information remains inaccessible.
‘They took down some of the most significant documents, two of them involving Virginia Giuffre’s case,’ Massie said during the ABC interview.
‘We want to be able to look at all these files. They can’t keep those documents down after they’ve already produced them.’
Massie’s rebellion has not come without consequences. His opposition to Trump and his leadership role in forcing the file releases have turned him into a political target inside his own party.
Trump has openly vowed to support a primary challenger against Massie, escalating the feud and signaling that loyalty on the Epstein issue has become a defining test within Republican ranks.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department has maintained that its investigation uncovered no criminal wrongdoing by powerful individuals beyond Epstein and Maxwell. But that conclusion has done little to quell suspicions among lawmakers demanding full disclosure.
Massie accused the Trump administration of failing to follow through on promises of transparency regarding the Epstein files
Bondi accused critics of using the Epstein files to attack Trump politically. Bondi told Massie he was suffering from ‘Trump derangement syndrome’
Massie held up stapled pieces of paper with an FBI document, parts of which were redacted, while questioning Bondi during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on oversight of the DOJ
The DOJ, for its part, has insisted it has released all relevant files from its investigation into Epstein, the billionaire financier who was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell in 2019 while awaiting trial on federal child sex trafficking charges. His death was officially ruled a suicide.
Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s longtime associate, was later convicted and remains imprisoned in the United States.
But lawmakers who have reviewed the unredacted materials have raised disturbing concerns about the contents and the extent of redactions in the public versions.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, blasted the Justice Department’s approach.
‘We didn’t want to see any redactions of the names of co-conspirators, accomplices, enablers, abusers, rapists, simply to spare them potential embarrassment, political sensitivity or disgrace of some kind,’ Raskin said.
He said the released documents were ‘filled with redactions of names and information about people who clearly are not victims and may fall into that other category.’
Trump himself has not been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein.
Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin accused the Justice Department of releasing Epstein documents ‘filled with redactions of names and information,’ warning that key details about potential co-conspirators had been withheld
Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein are seen raising their hands after Rep. Dan Goldman asked who of them has been unable to meet with the DOJ Attorney General Pam Bondi
However, his past friendship with Epstein and references to his name in investigative materials have fueled persistent political scrutiny and public debate.
The controversy reached a boiling point last week during a combative House Judiciary Committee hearing, where Attorney General Pam Bondi fiercely defended Trump and the Justice Department amid a barrage of criticism.
‘You sit here and you attack the president and I’m not going to have it,’ Bondi told lawmakers. ‘I am not going to put up with it.’
Bondi repeatedly clashed with Democrats and critics, accusing them of weaponizing the Epstein case for political gain and insisting that her department had acted appropriately.
She also confronted Massie directly, accusing him of political opportunism.
Bondi told him he was suffering from ‘Trump derangement syndrome,’ and dismissed his criticism as politically motivated.
The hearing, marked by shouting, accusations, and bitter exchanges, underscored how deeply the Epstein case has become entangled in partisan warfare – and how Bondi has positioned herself as one of Trump’s most aggressive defenders.