A House Republican is being accused of betraying the Make America Great Again movement and President Donald Trump by showing solidarity with Democrats by sitting on their side of the chamber, close to the aisle. However, the plans were ultimately scrapped, but the damage was done. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), along with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), were planning to sit together as a form of protest at the State of the Union address in February 2026.
Instead, Massie opted to sit alongside his fellow Republicans, joining Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), while Khanna took a seat on the Democratic side of the chamber. Massie got on social media platform X, where he posted a photo just before the president’s speech, with a caption that read, “This is my view tonight at the State of the Union from the Republican side of the aisle.”
Khanna and Massie created a bond together over their effort to force the Department of Justice to release the infamous Epstein files. During the State of the Union address, Republicans and Democrats usually sit with other members of their party. However, Khanna and Massie, having developed an unlikely friendship during their push for transparency, were originally going to sit together, which was going to be a rather unusual sight.
“We text back and forth all the time. I will often see him on the House floor, pick up the phone and call him,” Khanna went on to say of his Republican colleague in 2025, according to Politico. “Obviously, we come from different ideological perspectives, but there are areas where we have agreement in making sure that we’re preventing wars of choice overseas and transparency.”
The reason the two were going to sit together, according to Khanna, was to “show support for the brave survivors who will be there tonight and to send a message to the Epstein class.” Khanna and Massie weren’t the only two who were interested in protesting against the president over the Epstein files during the address. Mace, too, planned to show her support for the transparency efforts to release the files, but by focusing on solidarity not with Democrats, but with the victims of the now-deceased pedophile and convicted sex trafficker.
President Trump did not bring up the Epstein files during his address to the nation, but that didn’t stop Democrats from attempting to make it a focal point for the evening. Many announced plans to bring some of Epstein’s accusers, or their family members, as guests to the speech, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-MD), and House Oversight Committee ranking member Robert Garcia (D-CA), according to Axios.
The Democratic Women’s Caucus handed out pins for both members and Epstein accusers to wear, which said, “Release the files.” Rep. Maxine Dexter (D-OR), told Axios, “I think most of us are wearing it.” Mace told the publication that she would be “wearing Virginia Giuffre Roberts’ butterfly pin that was given to the South Carolina Republican by the deceased woman’s brother.
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Giuffre, who was one of the most well-known Epstein accusers, committed suicide in 2025. In 2009, Giuffre sued the billionaire convicted sex trafficker anonymously, alleging that she was “sexually exploited by Epstein’s adult male peers, including royalty,” while under the age of 18 and employed to be his personal masseuse.