Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) dismissed on Thursday the fringe conspiracy theories that emerged in the wake of his wife's death last week.
Massie recently announced the passing of his 51-year-old wife and high school sweetheart Rhonda, describing her as "the smartest kindest woman ever, my beautiful and wise queen forever." He did not state a cause of death.
Rhonda Massie's passing quickly sparked a number of conspiracies to circulate on social media, including the standard right-wing blaming of the COVID vaccine, and a more sinister belief that her death was linked to her husband's appearance on Tucker Carlson's show weeks prior where he criticized the American Israel Public Affairs Committee's influence on Congress.
But the six-term congressman wants people to stop speculating.
In a post on X, Massie rejected the various conspiracies stemming from Rhonda Massie's passing.
"It’s been two weeks since my lovely Rhonda passed and I am still devastated, but the four wonderful children she brought into this world and nurtured so perfectly have surrounded me with love and comfort," he said, adding that he is touched by the thousand-plus people who attended her service and sent flowers.
Massie went on to say he first reacted "with indignation" to the conspiracy theories that percolated in the wake of her death.
"I’ve since been amused because I know Rhonda would have laughed, and if I were on the outside I might have similar concerns," he wrote.
"Without violating her privacy, I can dismiss some of those theories by disclosing: she did not take the COVID shots (we were both seropositive by the time they became available), our house is very secure, family was in the house the night she passed, and an autopsy has been conducted (we do not yet have results)," he said.
Massie then joked that there's one conspiracy theory he buys into: how he ended up with her.
"I have joked that after poring through hundreds of photographs of us since high school, the only credible conspiracy I can offer is a gorgeous girl who was a literal genius conspired to make a congressman, who would be steerable by no one but her, out of an awkward nerd by taking him as her boyfriend at age 16 and committing to decades of continuously molding him into something better," he said.
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