Ro Khanna challenges Elon Musk to debate after Musk calls for him to be jailed

House Ro Khanna challenges Elon Musk to debate after Musk calls for him to be jailed Comments: by Tara Suter - 06/23/26 4:57 PM ET Comments: Link copied by Tara Suter - 06/23/26 4:57 PM ET Comments: Link copied

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Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) has challenged Elon Musk to a debate after the tech trillionaire called for his jailing.

In a Saturday episode of the “IHIP News” podcast, a sister podcast to the notable “I’ve Had It” podcast, host Jennifer Welch pressed Khanna about how his party would operate if they win the House in the next midterms.

“I do believe that once we take power, there has to be accountability. There needs to be accountability for Elon Musk,” Khanna told Welch.

“You know, they’re celebrating that he created 4,400 millionaires, but they don’t talk about the 4.5 million children around the world who he possibly sentenced to death by dismantling [the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)],” Khanna added. “He needs to answer for that. He needs to be subpoenaed. He needs to face investigation. He needs to answer for what he did with [the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)].”

Musk shot back at Khanna’s comments in multiple posts on his social platform X on Monday.

“The standard applied by DOGE was very simple and easy: Provide contact information for the recipients of aid, so that we can confirm it is not fraudulent,” the tech trillionaire said in one of the posts. “The reality is that money was being sent to corrupt politicians under the guise of aid! Liars and stock insider traders like Ro the Robber should be in prison!!”

In another post, Musk said it was “time to sue this liar.”

A few hours later, Khanna responded to Musk via his own post on X.

“The world’s richest person has spent all day tweeting, going after me,” Khanna said in a video featured in the post. “Why? Because I cited an academic study that his DOGE cuts may lead to the deaths of millions of children overseas.”

“You know, Elon, I thought you were a free speech guy,” he added. “Why not debate me on these issues instead of threatening lawfare? You’re not going to be able to intimidate me.”

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