GOP Official Snatches Rep. Thomas Massie’s Microphone at Kentucky Lincoln Day Dinner — A Flashpoint With Party Establishment

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) had his microphone taken from his hand Friday evening while speaking at the Oldham County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day Dinner, an episode that underscored rising tensions between Massie and local GOP leaders.

Massie was mid-sentence — telling the audience, “If you are a congressman, you work not for the Speaker of the House, I work for you!” while pointing toward attendees — when event emcee and Kentucky House Speaker David Osborne stepped in and seized the microphone. Someone in the room shouted, “Welcome to the snake pit, baby!” as the interruption occurred.

After being cut off, Massie left the hall along with several supporters; he later said he joined them for drinks at Ernesto’s Mexican Cuisine in La Grange. “I said, ‘Well, if they’re going to walk out for me, I’ll walk out and meet with them,’” Massie told the Louisville Courier-Journal.

Organizers Cite Time Limit

Oldham County Republican Party Chair Blaine Anderson told the newspaper the microphone was taken because Massie had exceeded the event’s five-minute speaking limit. Anderson said both Massie and his primary challenger, Ed Gallrein, were given “explicit instructions that they had five minutes to speak,” and that Osborne reclaimed the mic after granting Massie an extra minute “as a courtesy.”

“This had nothing to do with what was being said by the Congressman. It was about speaking time expiring,” Anderson wrote in a text to the paper.

Massie called Anderson a “great guy” and said he did not fault the chairman for the action, but suggested local party leaders disagree with his positions. “There’s some Massie Derangement Syndrome in Oldham County among the establishment,” he said.

Broader Friction With GOP Leadership

The incident comes amid a broader rift between Massie and establishment Republicans. President Donald Trump has publicly endorsed Massie’s primary opponent, Ed Gallrein, after Massie broke with House GOP leadership on several issues — including calling for the full release of the Jeffrey Epstein-related files, criticizing U.S. involvement in Iran, and opposing what Massie called Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” last summer.

Earlier the same day, Trump referred to Massie as a “moron” while speaking at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., criticizing Massie’s persistence on the Epstein files and noting, “We call him Rand Paul Jr. They just vote no. They love voting no.”

The original report first appeared on Mediaite, with additional coverage by the Louisville Courier-Journal.