Anti-Israel GOP congressman faces scandal days before Trump-backed primary challenge

Polls show tight race between Rep Thomas Massie, a critic of President Trump who has opposed support for Israel and voted against resolutions condemning antisemitism, and a former Navy SEAL backed by the president.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

Rep. Thomas Massie is facing a late-breaking personal scandal days before Kentucky Republicans decide whether to renominate the anti-Israel GOP congressman or replace him with a challenger backed by President Donald Trump.

Cynthia West, a woman whom Massie has acknowledged dating in the past, told Axios that the Kentucky Republican offered her $5,000 to drop a wrongful termination complaint against Rep. Victoria Spartz, an Indiana Republican and close Massie ally.

West said the alleged offer came after she was fired from Spartz’s office, where she worked for about six weeks after Massie helped arrange the job.

Massie’s campaign denied the allegation, calling it a last-minute smear.

“These last-minute dirty tricks don’t merit a response,” the campaign said. “The trashy lies they’re putting out now demonstrate how desperate they are.”

The accusation landed less than a week before Massie’s May 19 primary against Ed Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL endorsed by Trump. The race has become one of the most expensive House primaries in US history, with more than $30 million in spending reported by several outlets.

West told Axios she did not coordinate with Trump’s political operation or Gallrein’s campaign. She said she decided to go public because she believed Massie’s public push for transparency on the Epstein files clashed with what she described as an attempt to silence her.

“It really bothered me watching him with the Epstein files because he’s sitting there talking about transparency and victims’ rights and having women be heard, and he literally tried to silence me,” West told Axios.

West said she began dating Massie after he messaged her on X in August 2024, shortly after his wife died. She said Massie later arranged for her to work in Spartz’s office so she could be in Washington at the same time he was there.

West said she broke up with Massie in mid-January 2025 after he became “emotionally abusive” because she refused to “engage in behavior I wasn’t comfortable with.” She said she was later fired by Spartz’s office after complaining about a toxic work environment.

A spokesperson for Spartz said the office could not comment on the details of West’s pending allegations, saying only that West “held a temporary 90-day probationary position with our office, and her employment was not extended beyond that period due to unsatisfactory job performance.”

West said she was offered a $60,000 settlement in March in her complaint against Spartz but refused to sign the nondisclosure agreement attached to it.

West said that when she told Massie she was filing a complaint against Spartz, he offered her $5,000 in cash. She said the money was half of $10,000 Massie had previously given her in an envelope of $100 bills early in their relationship as a safeguard if she left her job to work for Spartz.

“You’re just one person. You’re not going to make a difference. Just walk away,” West said Massie told her.

Massie declined to comment directly to Axios and referred questions to Kentucky state Rep. Steven Doan, a family law attorney who questioned West’s credibility by citing filings from her previous divorce. West told Axios that problems in the divorce case were her fault because she represented herself instead of hiring a lawyer.

The controversy comes as Massie is already under heavy political pressure. Trump has repeatedly attacked him as disloyal and endorsed Gallrein, turning the Kentucky 4th District primary into a high-profile test of whether an incumbent Republican can survive open opposition from the president.

“Third Rate Congressman Thomas Massie, a Weak and Pathetic RINO from the Great Commonwealth of Kentucky, a place I love, and won big SIX TIMES, including all Primaries, must be thrown out of office, ASAP,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social account on Sunday.

“He is the Worst ‘Republican’ Congressman in History, voting against Tax Cuts, the Wall, Law Enforcement, and in favor of the Transgender Mutilization of our Children, Men playing in Women’s Sports, and so many more horrible things.”

Recent polling has shown the race is highly competitive.

While Massie led in two polls conducted in early April by Big Data Poll and Quantus Insights, recent surveys have shifted in Gallrein’s favor.

The latest Big Data Poll survey, conducted May 14-16, showed the race as a tossup, with each candidate at 50%.

A Quantus Insights poll conducted May 11-12 found Gallrein with an 8-point lead over Massie, 53%-45%.

A poll by SoCal Strategies gave Gallrein a 7-point lead, 49%-42%.

A libertarian-leaning critic of foreign aid and military intervention, Massie not only opposed US aid to Israel but also voted against symbolic resolutions condemning antisemitism.

In 2024, he joined several Democrats in boycotting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress, and Massie has repeatedly criticized the Israeli government and the pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC.

Earlier this month, Massie was interviewed by far-right podcaster Tucker Carlson, a vocal critic of the State of Israel who has faced accusations of antisemitism.

During the show, Massie parroted false claims that the US Department of Homeland Security’s X account had been created in Israel.

“The DHS account showed Israel,” Massie said. “The US Department of Homeland Security’s X account was set up using an IP address from Israel, using an Android app purchased in Israel. And that doesn’t trouble people. Like, there should be an investigation over why, when the DHS set up its Twitter account, it was set up in Israel.”

The claim is based on a debunked viral image purporting to show a screenshot of the department’s “About This Account” page on X.