India-West News Desk
WASHINGTON, DC – Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA), brushed aside threats of legal action from tech tycoon Elon Musk in a Fox digital news interview, stating that he will not be intimidated or silenced.
The public dispute began after Khanna criticized Musk’s leadership of the Department of Government Efficiency, specifically targeting sweeping reductions to the United States Agency for International Development.
Appearing on the IHIP News podcast with host Jennifer Welch, Khanna called for congressional accountability and investigations into Musk if Democrats regain control of the House of Representatives in the upcoming midterms. Citing a study published by the Lancet Group medical journal, Khanna asserted that while Musk’s supporters celebrate the creation of thousands of millionaires, they fail to address the four point five million children globally who could face death due to the dismantling of international aid.
Musk responded sharply on his social media platform, X, calling for Khanna to be imprisoned and labeling him a liar and a stock insider trader. Musk defended the budget cuts, stating that DOGE applied a simple standard requiring contact information for aid recipients to verify that funds were not being funneled to corrupt politicians.
In a subsequent post, Musk declared it was time to sue the California lawmaker.
Khanna, who is rumored to be considering a presidential run in 2028, later released a video on social media challenging Musk to a direct debate on the issue rather than engaging in legal threats, which he described as lawfare.
When asked about his chances if Musk follows through on the lawsuit, Khanna joked that Grok, the artificial intelligence chatbot operating on Musk’s own platform, indicated the tech billionaire does not have a valid legal case.
