GOP Kentucky House speaker snatches Thomas Massie's microphone mid-speech at Lincoln Day event

OLDHAM COUNTY, KENTUCKY: On Friday, February 6, Republican Rep Thomas Massie experienced an unexpected and dramatic interruption while speaking at the Kentucky Republican Party’s Lincoln Day Dinner.

As Massie took the stage and began addressing the audience, a local GOP official abruptly snatched the microphone from his hand. The moment was caught on tape and immediately sparked reactions from attendees as Massie exited the stage.

What transpired at the Kentucky Lincoln Day Dinner 

At that moment, Massie was saying, “If you are a congressman, you work not for the Speaker of the House, I work for you!” while pointing toward the audience. Event emcee David Osborne, who is the state House Speaker, intervened just then, cutting him off and abruptly grabbing the microphone out of his hands as the crowd reacted.

Video from the event shows someone in the room yelling, “Welcome to the snake pit, baby!” immediately after Osborne took the microphone from Massie. Following the mic snatching, Massie walked off the stage “in solidarity” with supporters who left the dinner in protest of how the situation was handled.

“I said, ‘Well, if they’re going to walk out for me, I’ll walk out and meet with them,'” Massie said. According to the Louisville Courier Journal, Massie joined several of his supporters later for drinks at Ernesto’s Mexican Cuisine in La Grange.

There was immediate discussion around why Massie’s microphone was taken away. Oldham County Republican Party Chair Blaine Anderson offered a statement saying the mic removal was due to Massie going over his allotted time limit. Anderson noted that both Massie and his primary opponent, Ed Gallrein, "were given five minutes to speak."

After Massie was granted an additional minute “as a courtesy,” Anderson said Osborne removed the microphone. He wrote, “This had nothing to do with what was being said by the Congressman, It was about speaking time expiring.”

Thomas Massie's speech and broader political tensions with GOP

Massie said, "I serve on two committees in Congress. I had four committees last Congress. Rules Committee, Judiciary Committee, T&I Committee, and the Weaponization of Government Committee."

Massie then weighed in on recent developments, saying, "Another thing that if you've been watching the news, you may have seen I got done. I passed the Epstein Files Transparency Act. The Speaker of the House, I'm glad we prayed for him tonight. He didn't want it."

He continued his remarks, saying, “The president didn't want it. The majority leader of the Senate didn't want it. I was up against everybody in the swamp. I could only find three Republicans, and guess what? They were all women. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Nancy Mason, Lauren Boebert. And they paid a hell of a price for signing their name on that document with me.”

Post event, Massie responded by calling Anderson a “great guy,” though he added that there was “some Massie Derangement Syndrome in Oldham County among the establishment,” suggesting political differences likely contributed to the moment. 

The incident came amid ongoing tensions between Massie and national GOP leadership. Earlier that day, President Donald Trump had publicly criticized Massie at the National Prayer Breakfast calling him a "moron." 

Trump said of Massie who continues to challenge the president on the release of the Epstein files, “There’s something wrong with him, We call him Rand Paul Jr. They just vote no. They love voting no. They think it’s good politically.”