Republican Kentucky Representative Thomas Massie had his microphone snatched mid-sentence while speaking at a political event on Friday.
The contentious moment occurred at the Oldham County Republican Party‘s Lincoln Day Dinner. Massie was one of several politicians or candidates who spoke at the event, but he was the only one to be cut off.
The embattled congressman has represented Kentucky’s fourth congressional district since 2012, but his bid for an eighth term has come under risk due to a public feud with President Trump, who has endorsed a primary challenger against Massie.
In a video taken and posted on X by Michael Faris, a grassroots senate candidate who was in the audience, Massie can be heard saying: ‘You are a congressman, you work not for the speaker of the house.’
Before he could continue, Kentucky state Speaker of the House David Osborne, who was emceeing the event, pulled the microphone off the lectern.
Undeterred, Massie finished his sentence without the mic and said, ‘I fight for you!’ The statement drew cheers and whistles from the crowd as the congressman walked off the stage.
A voice can then be heard saying, ‘Welcome to the snake pit, baby!’ The video has received more than 270,000 views and 4,200 likes since it was posted on Friday.
Massie’s independent streak against Trump has drawn national attention throughout the president’s second term.
Kentucky Republican Representative Thomas Massie had his microphone snatched while speaking at the Oldham County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day Dinner on Friday
Massie has represented Kentucky’s fourth congressional district since 2012, but his bid for reelection is under threat due to a public feud with the president
Massie’s mic was grabbed by Kentucky state Speaker of the House David Osborne. The Oldham County Republican Party chair said it was only because Massie was over the time limit
The Republican congressman made a bipartisan push in partnership with California Democratic Representative Ro Khanna for the Epstein files to be released.
He has also been critical of the Trump administration’s handling of Iran and was against the president’s One Big Beautiful Bill.
Trump has repeatedly insulted Massie for his disloyalty, calling the congressman a ‘moron’ at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC, last week.
‘There’s something wrong with him,’ the president said at the event. ‘We call him Rand Paul Jr. They just vote no. They love voting no. They think it’s good politically.’
Trump has backed his choice words by endorsing Massie’s primary challenger, Ed Gallrein, a farmer and retired Navy SEAL officer.
Event organizers had originally told Massie and Gallrein that they would not be allowed to speak at the dinner, but ultimately agreed to give each of them five minutes on-stage.
Oldham County Republican Party Chair Blaine Anderson told the Louisville Courier Journal that the only reason Osborne snatched the mic from Massie mid-sentence was because the Congressman was over the time limit.
Anderson said that Osborne had given Massie an extra minute to speak ‘as a courtesy,’ and only took the microphone after an additional minute had elapsed.
Ed Gallrein, a farmer and retired Navy SEAL officer, is running in the primary against Massie. He also spoke at the dinner but was not cut off
Gallrein has been endorsed by Donald Trump in the primary because the president thinks Massie is disloyal
Gallrein was also given an extra minute, the party chair said, but he finished his comments in time so there was no need to take the mic from him.
‘This had nothing to do with what was being said by the Congressman, Anderson told the Courier Journal. ‘It was about speaking time expiring.’
Massie told the outlet that Anderson is a ‘great guy’ who wasn’t at fault for what happened, but added that the party chair is ‘swimming upstream.’
‘There’s some Massie Derangement Syndrome in Oldham County among the establishment,’ the congressman added, referencing the president’s ‘Trump Derangement Syndrome’ turn of phrase used to disparage his critics.
Massie said he knew he was going over the time limit, but he was using the time to defend his wife, as the president had recently made an insulting post about her on X which was reposted by Gallrein.
The congressman also said that Osborne may have snatched the microphone because he thought the speaker of the house comment was about him, rather than Congress’s Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson.
Massie added that political differences with Osborne may have also played a factor, as the state speaker would have likely allowed a politician he liked more, such as Senator Mitch McConnell, to speak for 20 minutes.
‘Obviously if Speaker Osborne had liked what I was saying, he wouldn’t have shut me down like that,’ Massie said.
