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By Sonam Sheth
Evening Politics Editor
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After President Donald Trump announced on Monday that Iran and Israel had agreed to a "complete and total ceasefire," a Republican congressman who was at odds with Trump over U.S. involvement in the conflict joked that he would also like a ceasefire with the president.
The Context
Republican Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky skewered Trump after the president authorized U.S. strikes against Iranian nuclear sites without congressional approval.
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Trump's decision to launch the strikes came after Israel sparked a war with Iran on June 13 with a series of missile strikes that decimated Iran's military chain-of-command and nuclear infrastructure. Israel's strikes threw a wrench into Iran-U.S. diplomatic efforts toward reaching a new nuclear deal.
On Saturday, the U.S. entered the conflict by dropping 14 Massive Ordinance Penetrator (MOP) bombs, known as "bunker buster" bombs, and more than two dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles at three Iranian nuclear sites. Trump administration officials said the strikes "obliterated" Iran's nuclear infrastructure, but the full extent of the damage is not known.
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What To Know
Trump on Monday evening announced that Iran and Israel had come to a ceasefire agreement that would go into effect early Tuesday, though the formal terms of the agreement have not been released.
CNN's Manu Raju asked Massie after the announcement whether Trump deserves credit for it, to which Massie replied that it's "too soon to say."
"There was another way to do this where you could still get credit, where you do it constitutionally," the Kentucky Republican said.
He then quipped: "I'd like a ceasefire between me and President Trump, if I can get the same deal after his bunker busters he dropped on me."
The White House brushed off Massie's comments, telling Newsweek in a statement: "The only thing Thomas Massie wants is more attention for his unproductive, obstructionist behavior. We hope he enjoys his last term in office."
Massie has long been a thorn in Trump's side, but tensions between the two men ratcheted up this year, when Massie lambasted the Trump-backed "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" working its way through Congress and slammed Trump over his decision to go around lawmakers to bomb Iran.
Trump railed against Massie over the weekend, calling the Kentucky Republican a "simple-minded 'grandstander,'" a "pathetic LOSER" and a "BUM."
The president and his team have also made clear that they want Massie out of Congress.
Trump's senior political advisers, Tony Fabrizio and Chris LaCivita, also launched a political action committee (PAC) dedicated to unseating Massie, Axios reported.
The Kentucky lawmaker told CNN on Monday that he can hold his own against a Trump-backed Republican primary opponent.
Trump's "endorsement's worth about 10 points and I can sustain that," he told Raju.
What People Are Saying
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt to Fox News about Massie on Monday: "He should be a Democrat because he is more aligned with them than with the Republican Party."
Trump on Truth Social on Sunday: "Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky is not MAGA, even though he likes to say he is. Actually, MAGA doesn't want him, doesn't know him, and doesn't respect him ... The good news is that we will have a wonderful American Patriot running against him in the Republican Primary, and I'll be out in Kentucky campaigning really hard."
Massie to conservative podcast host Tim Pool on his break with Trump: "It's going to be a hell of a fight."
He said his primary opponents "can't run to the right of me" and that "when you dig down into it, I'm the original America-first congressman. That has always been my platform, even when it cost me in popularity, and so over 12 years I've developed that understanding with my constituents."
What Happens Next
While Massie joked on Monday about a "ceasefire" with Trump, he's also fundraised off the president's attacks against him. The Kentucky Republican raised almost $400,000 after Trump went after him in March and said Monday morning that he had raised nearly $85,000 in the last 24 hours.
"Every time I'm attacked for defending the Constitution, y'all have sent the swamp a message by making me stronger," he wrote on X.
Update 6/23/25, 11:25 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with additional information and comment from the White House.
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