Trump foe Thomas Massie fires back after scathing ex accuses him of trying to 'silence' her with $5K 'cow money' payment

By VICTORIA CHURCHILL, US POLITICAL REPORTER Published: 17:24, 13 May 2026 | Updated: 17:26, 13 May 2026 Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie has been hit with a new accusation just days before a critical primary election where he faces a Trump-backed challenger. Massie has been accused by a former girlfriend - who worked for a brief time on Capitol Hill - of being offered $5,000 in hush money to keep mum about their brief tryst. Cynthia West, a former Capitol Hill staffer now seeking a school board seat in Florida, said she began a relationship with Massie after he contacted her on X in August 2024, shortly after the death of his first wife, Rhonda.  In an interview published by conservative attorney Marcus Carey, who once primaried Massie in 2012, West alleged the relationship intensified quickly, with Massie encouraging her to relocate to Washington and later helping her land a position in the office of Indiana Republican Victoria Spartz, one of his close friends. Legistorm, a database of congressional staffers and salaries, shows that West worked for Spartz's office for roughly three months between late 2024 and early 2025.  A spokesperson for Spartz said her probationary employment ended because of poor job performance.  In a statement posted on X Wednesday morning, Massie fired back, calling into question the timing of the allegation, one week before the primary election.  'It's sad that a week before this election people are making false and unsubstantiated allegations about me in an obvious attempt to influence the outcome of this election.' 'All of the claims of inappropriate conduct are false. I've never offered anyone money in exchange for their silence. I report all of my farm income, including cash, to the IRS,' he continued. Thomas Massie speaks during the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Second Amendment hearing in Dirksen Senate Office Building on April 15, 2026 in Washington, DC Cynthia West, Massie's accuser in an image from her campaign website 'There are no ethics claims filed against me, nor have there ever been any claims filed against me in my 14 years in office. I have consulted legal counsel, and we are considering all options,' Massie concluded in his statement. West said she later ended the relationship after Massie allegedly pressured her into conduct she found inappropriate.  Following her dismissal from Spartz's office, she said she considered filing workplace complaints and informed Massie of a possible ethics claim.  According to West, Massie then offered her $5,000 in what he called 'cow money' from his Kentucky farm if she would 'walk away.' West filed a wrongful termination complaint against Spartz's office after her filing, but says she rejected a separate $60,000 settlement proposal from the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights because it required a nondisclosure agreement. Massie, who is now remarried, has become one of Trump's top primary targets and is facing Trump-backed challenger Ed Gallrein next week. Trump trekked to Massie's Northern Kentucky district in March to stump for Gallrein, prompting the incumbent to scoff that it was a ploy to 'breathe life into my opponent's Biden-like basement campaign.' Victoria Spartz speaks to reporters as she arrives for a House Republican caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol on February 25, 2025 in Washington, DC Massie and his 'high school sweetheart', his fist wife Rhonda who he was with for 35 years before her death in June of 2024  The libertarian's loyalty to principle over party has repeatedly landed him in Trump's crosshairs, with the clashes ramping up since the commander in chief returned to the White House. His cardinal sin, in Trump's eyes, was spearheading the push to force the release of millions of DOJ files on deceased pedophile financier Epstein, despite the President's objections. Massie predominantly worked with Democrats to compel Congress to release the files, although all but one Republican in the House voted for the final bill ordering the release, and Trump ultimately signed it. He has also moved to rein in Trump's military adventures, co-sponsoring War Powers resolutions on both Iran and Venezuela alongside California Democrat Ro Khanna, who was also his ally on the Epstein files push. He has also broken with his party to vote alongside progressive Democrats against aid to Israel, and was one of just two Republican 'no' votes on Trump's signature 'Big, Beautiful Bill' spending package last summer. Massie and Gallrein face off in the May 19 primary, a test of whether the congressman becomes the next to fall on Trump's retribution tour. Polling from Quantus insights released Wednesday showed Gallrein ahead of Massie, with the challenger receiving 48.3 percent of the vote and the incumbent with 43.1 percent.  Nearly 8 percent of respondents said that they are undecided or not sure yet of who they would support in Tuesday's race. The survey was conducted on May 11 and 12th among 908 likely Republican primary voters. The margin of error of was 3.3 percent. Five Republican Indiana state senators were toppled in primaries last Tuesday night after refusing to back a Trump-pushed redistricting plan to redraw the state's congressional map. The wipeout of GOP lawmakers who sided with Democrats to torpedo Trump's preferred map is a chilling warning shot to any MAGA defector in one of the reddest states in America. No comments have so far been submitted. Why not be the first to send us your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. 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