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An ex-girlfriend of Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., alleges he extended a $5,000 offer to drop a wrongful termination lawsuit against one of his top congressional allies.
Cynthia West, a social worker and school board candidate in Okaloosa County, Fla., said she began dating Massie several months after his first wife of 30 years died in 2024. She alleged that Massie then got her a job in the office of his close ally, Rep. Victoria Spartz, R-Ind.
West said she never applied for the role and was terminated shortly after she broke off her relationship with the congressman.
West first made the allegations on Tuesday in a video interview with Marcus Carey, a Kentucky attorney who challenged Massie during the congressman’s first run for Congress in 2012. Massie has represented the deep red seat since winning the election that year.
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The allegations come as early voting in Kentucky is underway for the state’s May 19 primary election. Massie, a leading Trump foe, is seeking to fend off a well-funded re-election challenge from Ed Gallrein, a former Navy SEAL supported by President Donald Trump. The intraparty clash has become one of the most closely watched House races this year.
West has said she has not been in contact with Gallrein’s campaign or Trump’s political operation and that no one is paying her to make the allegations.
In the interview, West said Massie first contacted her over social media in August 2024. Their relationship, according to West, became “very intense, very romantic” over the following months, including travel to Savannah, Ga., and South Africa.
“He wanted me to go to wherever he was,” West said in the interview when asked by Carey why she moved to Washington, D.C., to take a job in the Spartz office — a position that Massie arranged.
West said she broke off her relationship with Massie after he asked her to “engage in behavior” that she was not comfortable with and alleged emotional abuse. The Spartz office subsequently fired her after just “six weeks” on the job, West alleged.
She then filed a wrongful termination complaint against Spartz and named Massie as a witness, prompting him to offer her $5,000 to drop the pending lawsuit.
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“I called him up to let him know, and he was very angry,” West told Carey in the sit-down interview. “He said you’re just one person, that you can’t make a difference, that you need to just walk away.”
“He had $5,000 he said that he would give me if I could just walk away,” she went on. “I didn’t take it, though.”
The Office of Congressional Ethics offered West $60,000 to settle her wrongful termination complaint earlier this year, according to a copy of the proposed agreement first reviewed by Axios and obtained by Fox News Digital. West declined the settlement because it included a non-disclosure agreement that would bar her from publicly discussing the allegations.
“I’ve spent so much time fighting for transparency and justice, accountability, that if I did this, then I would call into question my own integrity,” West told Carey. “I wouldn’t be able to sit with that, so I can’t do it.”
Massie has denied any wrongdoing and has argued that West’s allegations are politically motivated.
“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,” Massie said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital. “All of the claims of inappropriate conduct are false.”
“I’ve never offered anyone money in exchange for their silence,” Massie continued. “I have consulted legal counsel, and we are considering all options.”
When reached by phone, West declined to comment on the allegations and referred Fox News Digital to her spokesman, Rob Wilbur.
“Thomas Massie spent months screaming about ‘transparency’ and ‘accountability’ over the Epstein files, but the second allegation hit close to home. Suddenly we’re all just supposed to shut up,” Wilbur said in a statement. “That’s not principle. That’s hypocrisy.”
“Cynthia has been a warrior for transparency and accountability, and her integrity should be respected, not met with political threats, bullying, and the toxic politics Thomas Massie represents,” Wilbur continued.
A Spartz spokesperson said the office could not comment on the specifics of West’s allegations.
“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 spokesperson said.
Spartz has been labeled as one of the “worst bosses” on Capitol Hill when accounting for staff turnover, by the nonpartisan website Legistorm.
The Indiana lawmaker has developed close ties with Massie. Spartz was the lone Republican to back him for House speaker in 2023, and she attended his wedding ceremony with Carolyn Grace Moffa in November 2025.
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