GOP leaders won't help Massie's bid for reelection as Trump plots his ouster

Source: CNN Politics

PUBLISHED Sep 7, 2025, 7:00 AM ET


President Donald Trump and his top political advisers are plotting an aggressive push to oust one of his most persistent Republican adversaries: Rep. Thomas Massie. And House GOP leaders won’t stand in Trump’s way.

Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team are sending their clearest signals to date that their conservative colleague will have to fend for himself as Trump’s allies prepare to dump millions into Massie’s district to purge him from the Northeastern Kentucky district he’s represented for nearly 13 years. In interviews with CNN, five members of House GOP leadership declined to offer their backing for Massie’s reelection bid – and Johnson would not say if he’d support his colleague.

Instead, the speaker admonished Massie for undercutting his party’s agenda – as the libertarian-minded Republican intensifies his furious battle to force the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files and derides Trump’s signature domestic policy achievement for driving up the national debt.

“He is actively working against his team almost daily now and seems to enjoy that role. So he is, you know, deciding his own fate,” Johnson told CNN, delivering a firm message that party leaders would not intervene to protect Massie in the escalating feud with Trump.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/07/politics/massie-trump-reelection-gop