Thomas Massie's ex accuses him of hush money offer

A former girlfriend of Rep. Thomas Massie accused him this week of offering her $5,000 to drop a wrongful termination complaint against his close ally, Rep. Victoria Spartz.

Why it matters: Cynthia West's accusation surfaced a week before Massie's May 19 primary.

• President Trump is targeting the Kentucky Republican in what has become the most expensive U.S. House primary in history.
• West said she did not coordinate or communicate in any way with Trump's political operation and the campaign of Massie's primary opponent, Ed Gallrein.
• West said Massie's offer involved cash that he had previously given her during their relationship and that she later returned to him.

Zoom in: West told Axios she broke her silence because she resented Massie for speaking about the need for transparency when it came to releasing the Epstein files — even as, she alleges, he attempted to silence her with cash when she accused an ally of his, Spartz (R-Ind.), of wrongdoing.

• West worked in Spartz's office for about six weeks after Massie, West's boyfriend at the time, arranged it.
• After she broke up with Massie, West said, she was fired by Spartz, who has a reputation as one of the "worst bosses on the Hill," according to Legistorm.
• This March, according to a proposed agreement obtained by Axios, West was offered a $60,000 settlement in her wrongful termination complaint against Spartz. But it came with a nondisclosure agreement that West refused to sign, she said.

What they're saying: Reached by phone, Massie declined comment and referred questions to Kentucky state Rep. Steven Doan, a family law attorney who questioned West's credibility, citing filings from her prior divorce.

• Massie's political account hid replies Tuesday on at least one post on X from users who linked to West's accusations.
• His campaign later issued a statement, saying: "These last minute dirty tricks don't merit a response. The trashy lies they're putting out now demonstrate how desperate they are."
• A spokesperson for Spartz said her "office cannot comment on the details of Ms. West's pending allegations, but we can confirm that Ms. 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."

The other side: West told Axios that the shortcomings in her divorce case were her fault because she represented herself instead of hiring an attorney.

• A school board candidate in Okaloosa County, Florida, West said she is campaigning against the very type of bullying and toxic political environments she found working in Spartz's office.
• "What kind of person would I be if I did this [by taking a settlement with an NDA] when I have the ability to teach the culture," she said.

Flashback: West told Axios she began dating Massie after he messaged her on X in August 2024, shortly after his wife died.

• In late December 2024, she said, Massie arranged her job in Spartz's office so that she could be in D.C. at the same time he was there.
• In mid-January 2025, she said, she broke up with Massie after he grew "emotionally abusive" because she refused to "engage in behavior I wasn't comfortable with."
• She was later let go by Spartz's office, she said, because she complained of the toxic work environment, Spartz's decision to hire a noncitizen for a district director job and the representative's insistence on getting involved in Ukraine's elections.

The intrigue: When she called Massie to inform him that she was filing a complaint against Spartz, she said he offered to give her $5,000 in cash.

• West said the money was half of the $10,000 he gave to her in an envelope of $100 bills when they first began dating as a surety for incidentals if West, a single mom, left her job to work for Spartz and needed the money.
• West said she returned the cash to Massie when they met at a Kentucky Cracker Barrel.
• "You're just one person. You're not going to make a difference. Just walk away," West said Massie told her.

Friction point: Months later West referred back to Massie's alleged comment in a reply to an X post he made when he was trying to recruit "just need one more" House member to force a vote on the Epstein Files Transparency Act.

• "I thought one person couldn't make a difference and that victims should just walk away or was that just me?" she replied on Sept. 11.
• "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," she told Axios.
• Massie's push for the Epstein files disclosure was at the heart of his rupture with Trump.

Earlier this month, weeks after she was offered a settlement, West decided to go public in a sit-down interview — which posted Tuesday — with conservative Kentucky trial lawyer Marcus Carey.

• Carey ran against Massie in a GOP primary in 2012.

The bottom line: West told Axios she had to go public because she has an "issue with transparency, accountability and wanting people to come forward so we can change the culture."