In February 2026, a quote attributed to U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, spread online in which he purportedly said he had obtained a flash drive with "the complete list of files" related to the case of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and that these files showed Epstein "was far more than just a pedophile; he was an intelligence asset."
On X, a user posting the quote warned of a looming "political earthquake" (archived):
U.S. House Representative Thomas Massie:
"Last night I received a flash drive containing the complete list of files belonging to Jeffrey Epstein. Everything is there: every billionaire, every campaign donor, every single person. Now let me explain why you haven't heard anything about this in the media. Because they're all in there. They will do everything to prevent these documents from being made public. Epstein was far more than just a pedophile; he was an intelligence asset. He was part of a blackmail operation used to control billionaires, politicians, and world leaders. If this list ever sees the light of day, the system as we know it will collapse. The public has the right to know the truth, and I am not afraid to share it."
It looks like a political earthquake may be coming.
Several Snopes readers emailed, seeking to confirm Massie had said this.
The quote was incorrectly attributed to Massie. In an emailed statement, the congressman denied the rumor that he said the quote as well as the facts it supposedly contained.
"This rumor is fake news," Massie told Snopes. "I don't have a flash drive. Why make stuff up when the reality itself is so shocking and disgusting?"
Additionally, several internet searches revealed no evidence that Massie said this. Had he claimed to hold a flash drive with this information, reputable news outlets would have reported on it.
It was not clear who originated the quote, as several searches for it either revealed the posts we included above or led to now-deleted posts.
The made-up quote circulated after Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, publicly questioned the U.S. Department of Justice's redaction of six names of men implicated in the Epstein case.
Massie and Khanna, who co-wrote the law that forced the DOJ to release the files, told the media on Feb. 9, 2026, that the six men were "likely incriminated by their inclusion in the files" and that there was "no explanation" for redacting the six names from the files:
MASSIE: What I saw that bothered me were the names of at least six men that have been redacted that are likely incriminated by their inclusion in these files.
[…]
KHANNA: There are six men — some of them with their photographs — that have been redacted, and there's no explanation why those people were redacted.
The DOJ reportedly moved to unredact several names from the files following Massie's and Khanna's calls.
For further reading, Snopes addressed a rumor that Harry Potter author JK Rowling appeared in the Epstein files.