All posts tagged "ro khanna"

'Women are more brave': MTG, Mace and Boebert praised as GOP men cave in Epstein civil war

WASHINGTON — It’s becoming increasingly clear to a handful of powerful MAGA congresswomen that their fight to release more Epstein files now pits them against some of the most powerful politicians in the Republican Party.

Bring it on, they say.

“Sometimes, you just have to f—ing do what you gotta f—ing do,” Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) told Raw Story at the Capitol. “Excuse my language.”

Before Congress’s August recess, there were 10 Republicans willing to publicly buck President Donald Trump and force his political lapdogs — Speaker Mike Johnson and other GOP leaders — to hold a vote on releasing details of the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein, the financier, sex trafficker and longtime Trump friend who died in federal custody in August 2019.

“The women are more brave in the face of the White House,” Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) told Raw Story.

Massie is the lead Republican sponsor of the Epstein discharge petition, a formal mechanism that forces a vote on any measure supported by more than half the 435-person House, an effort that has made Trump and GOP leaders uneasy for months.

Their efforts to quash the move have left most Republican men neutered, but they haven’t been able to dissuade three GOP congresswomen from their demand for full disclosure — or at least as full as appropriate, given minors are involved.

‘Close to home’

Most of his victims are still alive. That doesn’t mean the judicial system and its alleged congressional enablers haven’t made them feel powerless.

“The thing that got me was these women have been fighting for 30 years for justice and still don't have it. You have people who don't want to help them, and to me, it's infuriating,” said Mace, a rape survivor herself.

“It hit close to home.”

In the ring with fellow Republicans, Mace is joined by firebrands Reps. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA). They have yet to cave.

“The truth needs to come out, and the government holds the truth,” Greene told a large crowd outside the Capitol this week, as a group of Epstein victims gathered to speak.

“All of the fault belongs to the evil people that do these things to the innocent. This is the most important fight we can wage here in Congress, is fighting for innocent people that never received justice. And the women behind me have never received justice.”

Even MTG’s Democratic critics hailed her effort.

“I thought Marjorie Taylor Greene speaking was very, very powerful in terms of a signal to other Republican congresspeople,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), co-sponsor of the discharge petition with Massie, told Raw Story.

“The tone of this was not partisan. There are partisan fights: California redistricting is a partisan fight, the president militarizing the streets [is] a partisan fight.

“This is actually an issue that can bring this country together, and, frankly, the president can get credit if he releases the files.”

Trump doesn’t want credit. Rather, he continues to reverse campaign promises to release the files, dismissing survivors as perpetuating a “hoax”.

Following the president’s demands, this week Republican leaders tried to get out in front of the issue by releasing upwards of 30,000 Epstein-related files, many of which were public already.

“I think it’s a massive win,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), who had supported the push for full disclosure, told Raw Story, adding: “I've always been pushing for the documents to be housed publicly somewhere for everyone to be able to access.”

Others panned the move.

“There's a lot of redactions. Like the flight logs, I mean, we have entire pages that are blocked out and blacked out, and I don't think those are all victims,” Boebert told Raw Story.

‘I don’t buy that’

At the Capitol, Epstein survivors — or surviving family members — concurred.

“Were you able to see some of the documents that came out last night?” Raw Story asked Sky Roberts, who lost his sister, abuse victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre, to suicide earlier this year. “Just all the black on there, all the redactions?”

“The people in these files are, like, politicians,” Roberts said. “They aren’t interns. They are very wealthy and powerful people, and it shouldn't be up to the survivors to have to release that list.”

Some GOP congressmen have now distanced themselves from the discharge petition they tried to force on party leaders, to bring a vote on the House floor.

“You're not signed on to the discharge petition anymore?” Raw Story asked Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), the day after Epstein survivors met members of Congress. “Why not?”

“I'm afraid of what the ladies told us yesterday is that they were saying that some of them could be outed publicly,” Burchett said. “I want them to remain anonymous. They don't need to be hounded by the press or people or freaks out there.”

Raw Story asked: “What do you make of your supporters and the president’s supporters saying you’re now a part of a cover-up?”

“I don’t buy that,” Burchett said.

Tim Burchett and AOC Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) shares a fist-bump with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Cover-up or not, Republican men have undeniably retreated.

“What do you make of the men kind of bailing on this?” Raw Story asked Massie. “Before recess, you guys had about 10 [supporters] and now it's the dudes who bailed?”

“The women are more brave in the face of the White House,” Massie said.

“And look at who the women are: They're supporters of Donald Trump: Nancy Mace, Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene.

“This isn't political. I know some Democrats are trying to make it political and some Republicans are trying to make it political. But our base — and even the Democrat base — are all in the same place on this.”

‘Moving pieces’

Some female Trump fans on Capitol Hill say they are giving the administration time to reverse course.

“Obviously, there's a lot of moving pieces, but we are going through them right now,” Luna said, praising the administration for its files release this week. “And there has been some stuff that was not previously up there.”

While Luna went from endorsing the discharge petition in July to removing her endorsement, she says she isn’t judging GOP colleagues on the other side of the scandal.

“Every member has a right to do what they feel is best, but I think the files have been released. So if there's more, we'll find out in the investigation,” Luna said.

“It sounded like you were saying that you could still support the discharge petition — just not now?” Raw Story asked.

“If there's stuff that hasn't been released that we need and then we're getting blocked, yeah,” Luna said. “But I'm not going to do that without … looking through all the documents myself.”

Like Trump, Luna campaigned on releasing the Epstein files. But she remains dubious of Democrats who she accuses of piling on late.

“Why now?” Luna asked. "It just seems there’s a little bit more to the story than a lot of people are saying.”

‘Burn the system to the ground’

Congress just returned from summer recess, with the federal government slated to run out of funding at the end of the month.

Still, some say there's no bigger issue than righting Epstein’s wrongs.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) departs in tears from a meeting with Jeffrey Epstein survivors. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

“This might not be the biggest issue in America right now, but it is the issue everybody can agree on,” Massie said. “Honestly, I think a lot of people are going to be embarrassed on both sides of the aisle.

“Powerful political figures will be embarrassed, but that's not a reason to not do this, to avoid embarrassment for somebody.

“Again, I don't think Jeffrey Epstein was particularly partisan in his sexual malfeasance … he committed many crimes. It's basically a group of people that don't need to belong to a party, because they don't report to the law when they do.”

What’s universally agreed upon is the Epstein saga isn’t going anywhere.

Raw Story asked Mace: “Before you guys left town for August recess, there were about 10 of you supporting the discharge petition. Right now, it seems like all the men are trying to bail. Is that just the old boys club at work?”

Mace smirked.

“I hope that more will join us,” she said. “We need to burn the system to the ground and start over.

“I'll do anything to help the Epstein victims. I'll do anything I can in my power to help them.”

White House and GOP leaders reach 'understanding' that halts Epstein file demand: report

House Republican leaders are pushing a vote on whether to compel the Trump administration to release the Jeffrey Epstein files until after the August recess — at the earliest, Politico reported Monday.

Convicted sex offender and former Trump associate Epstein died by suicide in his Manhattan jail cell in 2019.

Reporter Meredith Lee Hill wrote that "GOP leaders have an understanding with White House officials" to hold off on a vote "in order to give the administration time to release documents on its own following President Donald Trump’s move to release grand jury information on the case."

She added that the vote might never make it to the House floor.

Trump instructed Attorney General Pam Bondi to request a judge to release the case's grand jury testimony, which she did last Friday. Trump's request came after the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal published a story linking Trump to a racy birthday card for Epstein's 50th birthday in which he allegedly wrote, "Happy Birthday — and may every day be another wonderful secret.”

Trump claimed "fake news" and filed a libel suit against the Journal shortly after publication.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) led the drafting of a non-binding Epstein resolution last week. It's believed to provide an "outlet" to "fend off Democratic attacks that the GOP is showing a lack of transparency on the case," Hill wrote.

Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) are trying to force a workaround to release the Epstein information through a "discharge petition" that would allow them to "bypass leadership to force a vote on the House floor if it receives 218 signatures," according to the report.

One House Republican told Politico that "Johnson is under increasing pressure from a growing number of GOP members to simply put the teed up Massie and Khanna-led resolution to a full House vote 'ASAP.'"

According to Politico, any action on the files will be put off until after the House returns to Capitol Hill.

Read the Politico article here.

‘Not worried, no, no, no, no, nope': GOP squirms as Trump-Epstein scandal spirals

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal is making many of his Republican allies on Capitol Hill squirm — but that doesn’t mean they’re backing down.

After dismissing his own MAGA base as “stupid people,” “weaklings,” “foolish” and “PAST supporters,” the president has changed his tune a tad. But for many members of Congress in both parties, merely allowing Attorney General Pam Bondi to release the Jeffrey Epstein grand jury testimony is not good enough.

While the testimony would be welcome, members of Congress continue to demand the release of the full Epstein records, including the infamous client list that Bondi previously said was “on my desk" — and now denies exists.

“The grand jury release is a first step,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) told Raw Story at the Capitol.

“It's not going to have the information about all the other potential men who were involved, and that has to be a release of the witness memos, the release of the broader evidentiary file.”

If releasing the grand jury testimony was meant to placate Trump's critics, it’s already failed.

Republican rage

Republicans still seem to be struggling through the denial stage of collective grief after President Trump — who many referred to as “Daddy” throughout the 2024 election — spent the week lashing out at supporters and policymakers alike.

“My PAST supporters have bought into this “b—---,” hook, line, and sinker,” Trump posted on Truth Social.

“They haven’t learned their lesson, and probably never will, even after being conned by the Lunatic Left for 8 long years.

“Let these weaklings continue forward and do the Democrats[‘] work, don’t even think about talking of our incredible and unprecedented success, because I don’t want their support anymore!”

After years of Trump stoking Epstein conspiracies, political watchers were left scratching their heads as the president did an about face, contradicting his campaign trail vows of transparency, justice, even revenge.

Rep. Troy Nehls (R-TX) is one of the president’s most devoted congressional allies, whether rocking gold Trump sneakers or not.

Raw Story asked him: “So wait, you don't think there's a change in tune from Trump on Epstein?”

“Why are we talking about Epstein?” Nehls said, walking down the Capitol steps.

“Because her committee,” Raw Story said, pointing to Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-FL), Chair of the Task Force on the Declassification of Secrets. “The Task Force on Secrets is charged with investigating it.”

“Then let them do their investigation,” Nehls said.

“But they say that's harder because the DOJ under Bondi isn't releasing the information they need,” Raw Story said.

“I don't think that’s what the boss said. The boss said, ‘If there's stuff out there to release, release it,’” Nehls said. “I don't think the boss is being an obstructionist. We've got to talk about the wins we have and not get distracted over Epstein.”

“But Epstein was a promise to the base that you guys were going to uncover this pedophile ring,” Raw Story pressed. “You're not worried that the base is going to come looking for revenge?”

“So much great stuff to talk about other than that,” Nehls said.

“Sounds like wagging the dog?” Raw Story asked.

“Sounds like it's just — let's move on,” Nehls said. “Let's just move on.”

But many Republicans, like those on the Secrets Task Force, do not want to move on. They are demanding documents, answers and candor — none of which the Trump administration has been willing to provide without a fight.

“Do you guys plan on following the president's lead and dropping your Epstein investigation?” Raw Story asked Luna.

“No,” the congresswoman said.

Luna’s Secrets Task Force is new. House Republican leaders erected it, in part, to show the party’s base Republicans are taking on the so-called “Deep State,” investigating conspiracies from JFK’s assassination to whether 9-11 was an inside job.

Top of the stack of historical conspiracies party leaders saddled the task force with is Jeffrey Epstein and his alleged list of partners in crime. But you wouldn’t necessarily know that from talking to the chair.

“You can see all my comments publicly,” Luna told Raw Story. “You're going to see more of that, and that's all I’m going to say on that.”

“But what'd you make of this President saying ‘stupid people?'”

“Just look at my comments,” Luna said.

“I've read your comments,” Raw Story's reporter said, “but the President said y'all are ‘stupid’ for looking into it.”

“He didn't say ‘y'all are stupid.’ There's a lot of context there,” Luna said. “You'll see soon.”

Congressional Republicans aren’t used to presidential tongue lashings, which may be why many have tuned out what Trump actually said.

‘This is stupid’

“What’d you make of President Trump calling many in the base dumb for being curious about this Epstein stuff?” Raw Story asked Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK).

“I didn't hear that,” Mullin said. “I don't think he called them dumb.”

“He said, ‘stupid people,’” Raw Story said, reading the president’s exact quote.

“He was using it in the context of being caught up in this instead of focusing on what we've accomplished,” Mullin said. “Instead of focusing on what we've accomplished, we're allowing this one issue to divide us. I think he was referring to, ‘this is stupid.’”

"It was a hoax. It's all been a big hoax. It's perpetrated by the Democrats and some stupid Republicans,” Trump told reporters at the White House Wednesday. “And foolish Republicans fall into the net.”

Dumbfounded, members of the press asked for clarification on whether the president was parting ways with some of his most ardent supporters — whether inside or outside of Congress. Trump tripled down.

"Yeah I lost a lot of faith in certain people because they got duped by Democrats," the president told the cameras.

‘We're going to have transparency’

It’s hard for Democrats to fathom, but no Republicans on Capitol Hill are looking for a political divorce from Trump. He is today’s Republican Party.

“What do you make of President Trump accusing y'all interested in Epstein of being ‘stupid people’?” Raw Story asked Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), a veteran of the far-right House Freedom Caucus.

“Look, President Trump has done more for this country, and I like his style. I like him, you know, regardless,” Norman said. “I'm not going to criticize him for one thing.”

“But you're not going to lay down on your calls to investigate Epstein?”

“We're going to have transparency,” Norman promised.

Like Norman, a growing number of the party’s rank-and-file find themselves on the opposite side of the Epstein scandal from the president. Awkward.

"I'm for full transparency on this. I'll be supporting releasing files," Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) told Raw Story.

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) at the U.S. Capitol. REUTERS/Craig Hudson/File Photo

"Obviously, I want to protect kids and no one wants to see child porn, but this is about right and wrong and it's ensuring we have trust in the process. I've worked with a lot of victims over the years."

"And you're not worried at all that there is stuff in these files on President Trump?" Raw Story asked the Secrets Task Force member.

"No, I'm not worried at all," Mace said. "No, not worried. No, no, no, no. Nope, no he's not a pedophile. That's ridiculous."

Mace and other Republicans demanding the release of the Epstein files are now more aligned with their Democratic counterparts than they are with their MAGA master. Before this week, Democrats were suspicious, but many are now convinced Trump is hiding something damning.

“It’s Trump showing true colors,” said Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY). “He's a liar. He manipulates people,”

“Are you pretty convinced Trump’s on the list?” Raw Story asked.

“I think so,” Ryan told Raw Story. “It's the only explanation.”

When Trump tried to bury the investigation, he seems to have accidentally made Epstein the talk of the town. And that’s not a good thing.

'Internal rebellion'

It’s surely a new day in Trump’s Washington — ordinarily, Republicans just don’t cross him, in large part because those who have, have been primaried or pushed out of the party.

Despite GOP efforts to change the law, Trump is constitutionally barred from running for a third term. That makes him a lame duck, even as his allies on Capitol Hill need the very voters he’s alienating. Democrats are trying to exploit this newly forming fissure.

“The Epstein issue is a real issue in this space, and they don't want rich, powerful people protected,” Rep. Khanna told Raw Story. “It's the first time he's facing an internal rebellion on his own base.”

Strange new — if potentially temporary — alliances have begun to form. Khanna’s teaming up with libertarian-leaning Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) to try and force both President Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to release the Epstein files.

Massie’s been effective, according to Khanna, who says they’ve gotten roughly eight MAGA-tinged Republicans to sign their discharge petition — a rare procedural tool that enables otherwise powerless rank-and-file lawmakers to overrule the Speaker if they can garner support from more than half of their colleagues.

Speaker Johnson’s been doing the president’s bidding — abandoning most oversight of the executive branch, surrendering the power of the purse — but the discharge petition could cut him, other GOP leaders and Trump out of the equation altogether.

This latest GOP brawl is only energizing Democrats who’ve struggled to find their collective groove since Trump re-entered the Oval Office in January. Democrats sense GOP leaders are on their heels, which was on display all week as Johnson failed to muster enough GOP votes to even advance broadly bipartisan crypto bills.

According to Khanna, those disruptions were tied to the discharge petition. He says he has the votes to overrule the speaker, which is why GOP leaders are maneuvering behind the scenes.

“They're trying to avoid that, and then they're hoping that the momentum is lost during the August recess,” Khanna said. “But this issue is not going away. Are Republicans in the Trump administration protecting pedophiles? They're protecting the rich and powerful, and they're giving them impunity.”

Congressional Republicans reject the notion of some White House coverup. Rather, they say, Trump just wants to move on past his old buddy, Jeffrey Epstein.

"He just wants to be done," Mace said of the president.

There is broad bipartisan agreement on one thing — no one on Capitol Hill thinks the Epstein saga will end anytime soon.

In fact, many of the president’s Republican allies on the Secrets Task Force are vowing to keep the investigation alive until they get answers for their revved-up base.

"It's not going away,” Mace told Raw Story. “Look what's happening right now in Washington — we can't hold a hearing without it coming up, because Democrats understand the political wedge that it is.”

'What a disgrace': House Republicans reamed for blocking Epstein files release

On Tuesday, House Republicans voted to block the release of the Epstein files, following President Donald Trump's directive to drop the issue and to stop picking on Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Trump recently posted to Truth Social, "Why didn’t these Radical Left Lunatics release the Epstein Files? If there was ANYTHING in there that could have hurt the MAGA Movement, why didn’t they use it? LET PAM BONDI DO HER JOB — SHE’S GREAT!"

Shortly after becoming attorney general, Bondi promised to reveal all she had on the disgraced financier pedophile who committed suicide in a Manhattan jail cell before he could stand trial. Epstein was a cohort of Donald Trump's, and there are plenty of photos of the two men palling around at parties. Failure to release anything has caused a widening MAGA rift that shows no sign of slowing.

Rep @RoKhanna took to social media Tuesday, writing, "Rules voted 5-7 to block the full House from voting on my amendment to have a FULL release of the Epstein file. People are fed up. They are fed up."

Podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen wrote, "There it is. Republicans just BLOCKED the release of the Epstein Files."

Republicans Against Trump wrote, "Every single Republican voted to hide potentially damaging info about Epstein’s friend Donald Trump. What a disgrace.

"They chose to protect Trump instead of telling the American people the truth. Disgraceful. We all know that if Trump’s name wasn’t in the files, they would’ve voted to release them."

Podcaster Brian Allen posted, "Republicans just BLOCKED the release of the Epstein Files. They didn’t flinch. They didn’t hesitate. They lined up and voted to keep the truth sealed. The client list is real. The cover-up is active. And the American people are watching."

The account of @jeff_ostach declared, "There are no winners in this vote. The losers are the American people. Every single Republican congressional representative is up for reelection in 2026, and I guarantee constituents will remember this day and will vote out each and every one of them.

Sara Sidner and Jonathan Epstein

Sara Sidner and Jonathan EpsteinCNN

'Not a time for politics': Mike Johnson smacks down effort to rein in Trump

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) smacked down the bipartisan war powers resolution proposal that would require President Donald Trump to seek congressional approval before authorizing further strikes on Iran, The Hill reported.

Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Ro Khanna (D-CA) introduced the measure last week, meant to curb Trump's ability to strike when and where he likes.

Despite the proposal, Trump announced Saturday that the U.S. military had "carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime: Fordo, Natanz and Isfahan." Trump claimed that Iran's nuclear capabilities were "obliterated" in the attack, despite media pushback.

So far, Massie is the only Republican on the record supporting the resolution. It was unclear whether Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) supported the measure, although she has adamantly spoken out against U.S. involvement in Israel's conflict with Iran. Some 48 Democratic lawmakers in the House and Senate have said they would support such a measure.

When asked Monday if he would allow a floor vote, Johnson said it was "not a time for politics."

“I don’t think this is an appropriate time for a war powers resolution and I don’t think it’s necessary,” Johnson told reporters. “For 80 years, presidents of both parties have acted with the same commander-in-chief authority under Article II, you had President Biden used three times in Middle East operations. President Obama went on an eight-month campaign of bombing Libya to take down the regime there.”

Johnson added, “I never heard a Democrat balk about any of that, and suddenly now they’re just up in arms. It’s all politics. This is not a time for politics.”

The Hill reported that "Massie and Khanna can still force their measure to the floor. The resolution is privileged and can be called up for debate and a vote after 15 days of no committee action."

Read The Hill article here.

Dem reacts to DOGE worker's 'explicit racism' — and Vance's 'attack'

Ro Khanna (D-CA), who represents Silicon Valley in Congress, unleashed on Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency employee caught up in a racism scandal that also drew in Vice President J.D. Vance.

Khanna appeared on CNN Tuesday with Boris Sanchez who made a point of asking about the racist comments that targeted people of Indian descent.

"I want to pivot and ask you about something else that Musk tweeted that was actually echoed by Vice President Vance," Sanchez began. "The Wall Street Journal found a social media account tied to a DOGE associate that had posted numerous racist remarks, among them one that I think may hit close to home for you. He wrote, quote, 'Normalize Indian hate.' You're, of course, the son of Indian immigrants. The staffer resigned and then was rehired, with Musk and Vance arguing that he should be forgiven for those posts. Do you forgive him, congressman?"

ALSO READ: Elon Musk's DOGE boys think this is a video game as Trump plots his 2nd coup

Khanna answered, "Well, as you know, I had an exchange back and forth with the vice president on this. It's sad because I was born in Philadelphia. I grew up in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, in the '70s and '80s, and I never experienced that kind of explicit racism."

Khanna posted on X last week addressing Vance, writing, "Are you going to tell him to apologize for saying 'Normalize Indian hate' before this rehire? Just asking for the sake of both of our kids."

Vance's wife Usha and their children are of Indian descent.

Khanna continued, "What I said to the vice president is, 'Okay, he's a 24-, 25-year-old kid. He's put, 'normalize Indian hate.' He's put that he wants to repeal the Civil Rights Act, that Dr. King fought for, on social media. If you're going to rehire him, ask him to retract those statements and apologize.' I didn't think that was asking too much. I was willing to extend grace to give this young man a second chance. But the vice president sort of unloaded at me, attacked me, said that I 'disgust' him, and he still has not answered whether this person has been rehired and whether he's going to retract those deeply offensive statements."

Watch the clip below via CNN.

'Betrayed us all': Social media unleashes on Ro Khanna for missing Musk subpoena vote

Social media raged at Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) Wednesday after he missed a vote to subpoena Elon Musk to testify before the House Oversight Committee.

The motion was made by Ranking Member Gerald Connolly (D-VA), who said Musk has taken a "wrecking ball to systematically dismember our government piece by piece."

The motion to subpoena Musk eventually failed 19-20, with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) "abstaining."

Khanna posted to social media that he was unaware a vote had been called.

"I would have voted yes. They called a procedural vote without notice & I like 8 others didn’t make it there on time. Musk’s attacks on our institutions are unconstitutional. He should be subpoenaed & answer to our committee. They should call the vote again with notice."

ALSO READ: 'Driven to self-loathing': Inside the extremist website believed to 'groom' teen attackers

Journalist Josh Marshall wrote on X, "so it was not an abstention but simply not being there in time for the quickly called vote?"

Khanna responded, "Correct. I was meeting with Ambassador Mexico on tariffs. They called a vote with no notice and didnt get there in time. 8 total missed."

Khanna's excuse was not taken kindly by some on social media.

Under Connolly's post declaring he called for the subpoena, Journalist Mary McNamara posted, "You need to also add that Ro Khanna betrayed us all."

Former political aide Justin Higgins wrote, "Rep. Ro Khanna clearly cares more about Silicon Valley money flowing into his campaign coffers than protecting Democracy."

Founder of the Black Male Voter Project W Mondale Robinson posted, "And this is why I said what I said last week…@RoKhanna is flaw."

"Why did you abstain from the vote to subpoena musk. who is paying you - or are you just that much of a f------ coward," posted attorney @Ruth_Mensch.

John Roche, a retired professor, wrote, "Ro Khanna’s crypto loyalties outweighed his loyalty to his country."

At least one poster was upsets with the Democrats for not making sure all members were present for such an important vote.

Civil rights attorney Scott Heschinger wrote, "What in the f--- is wrong with the Dems. They can’t even alert their allies in Congress that a critical vote and form of resistance is taking place? @RoKhanna would have voted yes, potentially along with 8 others who didn’t get notice a vote was happening."

Musk issues vulgar reply to lawmaker who 'would have voted yes' to subpoena the DOGE head

Elon Musk posted a rude retort to Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) Wednesday after the California congressman explained why he missed a procedural vote calling on Musk to testify before Congress.

Khanna posted on X, "I would have voted yes. They called a procedural vote without notice & I like 8 others didn’t make it there on time. Musk’s attacks on our institutions are unconstitutional. He should be subpoenaed & answer to our committee. They should call the vote again with notice."

Musk responded to Khanna with, "Don't be a ----."

ALSO READ: 'Driven to self-loathing': Inside the extremist website believed to 'groom' teen attackers

When Trump first took office three weeks ago, Khanna got on board with Musk's desire to cut government waste through the new Department of Government Efficiency. He even declared to MSNBC, "Democrats can work with DOGE. I know exactly where to start."

However, Musk's rogue actions over the past weeks caused even Khanna to turn against his "attacks" on government institutions.

In addition to shutting down the USAID office, Musk also got access to sensitive Treasury Department payment information, including Social Security numbers.

On Wednesday, Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee moved to subpoena Musk to testify, but the vote failed 20-19.

'Sheer malevolence': Analyst says Trump's first weeks 'worse than you could have imagined'

Democrats tried to work with President Donald Trump at the start of his second term, but the spirit of "sheer malevolence" by Trump and Elon Musk has made moving forward all but impossible, argued an opinion writer for MSNBC.

Journalist Paul Waldman wrote that initially, "some Democrats decided to extend a hand of bipartisanship." They included progressive Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) who were both spurred on by the idea of cutting government waste through Musk's Department of Government Efficiency.

Some progressives criticized Democrats for thinking they could amicably work side-by-side with the administration.

"But it turned out that even the most skeptical progressives who torched Democrats online underestimated the sheer malevolence of both Trump and Musk," Walman wrote. "In just two weeks, the billionaire duo has frozen government payments, scapegoated minorities for an air crash, purged officials deemed insufficiently loyal, seized the government's payment system and potentially shut down congressionally created agencies. Wherever you look, it's worse than you could have imagined."

ALSO READ: 'Driven to self-loathing': Inside the extremist website believed to 'groom' teen attackers

He continued, "Trump and Musk are in a hurry to destroy everything they can get their hands on...They can’t be reasoned with. And they absolutely will not stop until they lay waste to our government as we have known it. Anyone who thought otherwise ought to understand by now."

Even so, Trump has "the highest favorability rating he's ever had," with "48.9 percent of respondents viewing him favorably and 47.7 percent holding an unfavorable opinion," according to a Real Clear Politics poll.

"I'm not necessarily surprised by Trump's numbers," Andrew David, senior lecturer at Boston University, told Newsweek: "These are impressive for him personally for sure. But this is the point in his administration when he should have numbers along these lines. Considering the scope of his November victory, it would be shocking if there was a major regress in his support."

David added, "That said, while these are great numbers for Trump, they're still low by almost any measure of the presidency. In fact, the only person who started with lower numbers was...Donald Trump [in 2016]."

Read the MSNBC opinion piece here.

As First Republic Bank faltered, five members of Congress dumped their personal stock investments

At least five members of Congress in mid-March dumped their personal stock shares in now-defunct First Republic Bank — trades that potentially saved the lawmakers or close family members thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars, according to a Raw Story analysis of congressional financial records.

Reps. Lois Frankel (D-FL), Ro Khanna (D-CA), John Curtis (R-UT), Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Dan Goldman (D-NY) each sold their shares between March 15 and March 20 as the bank’s credit rating eroded, stock price tumbled and depositors fled.

The lawmakers’ timing of the trades — four of the five bailed out of First Republic Bank stock while share prices still hovered in the $31-to-$35 range down from February highs in the $140s — allowed them to avoid additional losses beyond what they had already experienced. First Republic’s stock traded below $4 a share by the time JPMorgan Chase bought the failing bank earlier this week.

Their trades also coincided with broader bank-related action on Capitol Hill, with Congress fretting over the economic implications of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank imploding and spooling up investigations into their failures.

While there’s no evidence that the lawmakers used information they obtained through their public service to inform their First Republic stock trades, such stock sales “can erode the public’s faith and confidence in Congress,” said Aaron Scherb, senior director of legislative affairs for Common Cause, a nonpartisan government watchdog organization.

“The perception of corruption can be just as damaging as actual corruption in many cases,” said Scherb, noting that a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers have introduced bills that would ban members of Congress and their immediate family members from trading individual stocks at all.

Why lawmakers sold First Republic shares

Khanna’s stock trade disclosures list the owners of the stock as his wife, Ritu Khanna, and their dependent child.

“Rep. Khanna does not own any individual stocks and is a co-sponsor of the TRUST in Congress Act to ban congressional stock trading,” a spokesperson for the congressman told Raw Story. “His wife has assets prior to marriage in a diversified trust managed by an independent third party, which per OGE rules eliminates any conflict. The periodic transaction reports publicly filed show that the First Republic transactions were very small relative to the portfolio and sold at a loss days after the steep fall. All trades have been disclosed.”

The trades listed as being for a child are from “a diversified trust that the family of Rep. Khanna’s wife set up for their grandchildren over which Rep. Khanna has no involvement or control.” Khanna valued the trades at between $2,002 and $30,000 — lawmakers are only required by law to disclose the value of their stock trades in broad ranges.

Frankel, one of Congress’ more active stock traders over the years, sold between $1,000 to $15,000 on March 16, when the stock price was $34.27.

Less than a week later, according to congressional financial disclosures, Frankel purchased up to $15,000 worth of shares in JPMorgan Chase, the bank that would go on to buy First Republic several weeks later.

“My account is managed independently by a money manager who buys and sells stocks at his discretion,” Frankel told Raw Story through a spokesperson.

Goldman spokesperson Simone Kanter similarly indicated that the freshman congressman, who has also established himself as one of Congress’ most frequent stock traders, had no personal involvement in the decision to sell between $1,001 and $15,000 worth of his First Republic shares. Goldman’s trades are executed by a financial adviser whose name his office declined to release.

“Congressman Goldman does not know why the stock was sold since he has had no contact with his advisor about specific trades since he entered Congress,” said Kanter, noting that Goldman has initiated a process to place his stock assets into what’s known as a qualified blind trust — a congressionally approved financial vehicle where a member of Congress formally cedes control of his or her assets to an independent money manager.

Blumenauer reported the sale of $1,001 to $15,000 in First Republic Bank stock on March 20 as a part of his spouse’s retirement portfolio, according to congressional stock disclosures.

“Congressman Blumenauer and his wife, a long-time successful attorney in Portland, have separate financial accounts. They have both retained a money manager with the power of attorney who makes financial decisions without their input or knowledge,” Hillary Barbour, Blumenauer’s communications director, said in a statement.

“For the Congressman’s spouse, the money manager occasionally engages in non-directed trades, meaning that she neither directs, approves, nor has knowledge beforehand of transactions made on her behalf. Congressman Blumenauer owns no individual stocks and has instructed the money manager to not purchase any stock on his behalf,” Barbour said.

Curtis purchased $1,001 to $15,000 worth of First Republic Bank shares on December 20 and sold stock in that same range on March 16, according to congressional disclosures. Curtis’s office did not respond to Raw Story’s requests for comment.

Push to ban congressional stock trading

During the 117th Congress from 2021 to 2022, at least 78 members of Congress — dozens of Democrats and Republicans alike — were found to have violated the STOCK Act's disclosure provisions, according to a tally maintained by Insider.

This year, Raw Story has identified three additional lawmakers — Sen. Tom Carper (D-DE) and Reps. Seth Moulton (D-MA) and Gerry Connolly (D-VA) — who were late disclosing personal stock trades.

Meanwhile, news organizations including the New York Times, Insider, NPR and Sludge have documented rampant financial conflicts of interests among dozens of members of Congress, such as those who bought and sold defense contractor stock while occupying positions on congressional armed services committees or otherwise voting on measures to send such companies billions of federal dollars. The executive and judicial branches are riddled with similar financial conflict issues, too, as the Wall Street Journal has reported.

A plan to enact a congressional stock-trade ban failed during the 2021-2022 congressional session after Democratic House leaders declined to bring any of several existing bills — including one floated by House leaders themselves — up for a vote.

But this year, a bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), have introduced several similar stock-ban bills in a renewed push to prohibit federal lawmakers and their spouses from trading stocks altogether. Cryptocurrency trades are also a target.

Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) is among a growing group of lawmakers, both on the right and left, who want to ban members of Congress from trading stocks.

One of these lawmakers says her colleagues’ First Republic Bank trades are additional proof that members of Congress must prohibit themselves from playing the market.

“In the past few weeks, we’ve seen consistent reports of lawmakers — on both sides of the aisle — making suspiciously timed trades in the days surrounding the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank,” Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), lead sponsor of a bill that would ban members of Congress and their immediate family members from trading stocks, told Raw Story.

“These trades further erode the trust that the American people have in their elected officials, and they reinforce the importance of banning members of Congress — and their spouses — from trading individual stocks,” Spanberger said. “Rather than moving on to the next news cycle, Congress needs to meet this moment with urgency, action, and a willingness to make clear that lawmakers should be serving the people, not their own stock portfolios.”