MAGA candidate snaps after right-wing outlet suggests he inflated his Bronze Star count

Ed Gallrein, a retired Navy SEAL and GOP congressional candidate hand-picked by President Donald Trump to unseat Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), lashed out at The Daily Caller after the outlet reported that he may have inflated his military record during his campaign.

“This lie-filled story is nothing but a desperate attempt by Thomas Massie and his allies to smear the good name of a heavily-decorated Navy SEAL who served this country admirably for three decades,” reads a statement sent to the Caller by Gallrein's campaign.

“He has had 14 years to make the case to the people of this district, and this last-minute hack job is proof that he has failed.”

Notably absent from the response, the Caller noted, was an acknowledgement of the underlying allegation, that Gallrein claimed during his campaign that he had “received four Bronze Stars,” despite a “longstanding paper trail spanning more than a decade” having “consistently” described him as having received three Bronze Stars.

“As far back as 2011, multiple biographies – including one associated with Georgia’s First Kiwanis Club – list the Kentucky’s 4th District candidate as a recipient of three Bronze Stars,” the Caller’s report reads. “The same figure is reflected in a 2016 Marietta Daily Journal report covering a Veterans Day ceremony at Marietta Square, where he served as keynote speaker.”

References to Gallrein having received three Bronze Stars would continue until as recently as 2024. In December of 2025, however, a campaign ad for Gallrein claimed that he had “earned four Bronze Stars.”

Trump has poured enormous political capital into unseating Massie, who defied him last year in pushing for the release of the Justice Department’s files on Jeffrey Epstein against the president’s wishes.

The GOP primary race between Gallrein and Massie has gone on to become the single-most expensive House primary race in U.S. history, with at least $25.6 million being funneled into the race, largely against Massie and in support of Gallrein. A significant share of that spending – at least $6.6 million – has come from pro-Israel groups, prompted by Massie’s criticism of Israel in how it’s conducted its military siege on Gaza, which leading human rights groups have labeled a genocide.