Republican Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie claimed that President Donald Trump retaliated against his GOP colleague for demanding transparency around the Epstein Files.
Massie told Tucker Carlson in an interview Wednesday that Republican Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert was taken into the Situation Room and urged to remove her name from a discharge petition, which would force a vote on releasing the Epstein files. Boebert was just one of four Republicans who signed onto the petition, joining 214 Democrats to force a floor vote.
After Boebert refused to tank the vote, Massie said Trump vetoed a bill that would allocate critical resources to residents in Southeast Colorado, many of whom are her constituents. (RELATED: Judge Releases Alleged Epstein Suicide Note)
“They took her into the Situation Room and tried to whip her into taking her name off of the discharge petition over Epstein,” Massie said. “And then the president vetoed a bill that would have brought water to a large portion of Colorado, over Epstein.”
🚨WATCH: Rep. Thomas Massie tells Tucker Carlson that “They took [Lauren Boebert] into the Situation Room and tried to whip her into taking her name off of the discharge petition over Epstein.’
“And then the president vetoed a bill that would have brought water to a large… pic.twitter.com/gDTmyfH5fB
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) May 7, 2026
The bill Trump vetoed was the bipartisan Finish the Arkansas Valley Conduit Act, which would complete a 130-mile pipeline to deliver clean water to tens of thousands of residents in Colorado. This is one of just two bills Trump has vetoed in his second term.
“At this point its not just about Lauren Boebert,” Massie said. “Why are people in Colorado deprived of water because their representative wants to expose a sex trafficking ring?” (RELATED: Leaked Photo Brought Hillary Clinton’s Closed-Door Epstein Testimony To Abrupt Halt)
Despite repeatedly calling the Epstein Files a “Democrat hoax,” the president signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act into law after it passed with overwhelming support in both the House and the Senate.
Trump said he vetoed the legislation in December because the project had become too costly, noting that local users were meant to repay the project costs but failed to do so. Trump also noted that Congress had already provided additional financial support in 2009 but construction still had not progressed.
“Enough is enough,” Trump said. “My Administration is committed to preventing American taxpayers from funding expensive and unreliable policies. Ending the massive cost of taxpayer handouts and restoring fiscal sanity is vital to economic growth and the fiscal health of the Nation.”