Ro Khanna Pressed on Israeli Nukes, Voting Against Trump Impeachment

At an event earlier this week sponsored by Zeteo and hosted by Mehdi Hasan, journalist Sam Husseini questioned Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) about Israeli nukes, and why he voted against impeaching Trump for bombing Iran, which Khanna himself has said was unconstitutional.

Watch:

This isn’t the first time Khanna has failed to move on impeachment. In the case of Biden, Khanna not only didn’t impeach him after saying that he violated the Constitution, but was touting his plans to campaign for him a week later:

Worse yet, months into Israel’s US-backed genocide in Gaza, Khanna absurdly pitched Joe Biden (aka Genocide Joe) as a peacemaker who was “doing all that he can” to “make sure that civilian casualties are minimized”:

Sam tried asking him about Israeli nukes previously, during a March 2024 “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) on Reddit. He also asked about impeachment (Biden in this case), and the genocide case against Israel.

Khanna replied, but he didn’t answer a single one of Sam’s questions:

“So, it’s ask-me-anything-and-I’ll-ignore-your-actual-questions and just regurgitate my usual talking points,” Sam retorted.

This all stands in stark contrast to Khanna’s behavior—and rhetoric—in early 2021, right after January 6. Here are some quotes:

Jan 7: “I support any effort on impeachment…” (source)

Jan 8: “We should reconvene Congress today and vote on articles of impeachment tomorrow. There is no need for delay in fulfilling our constitutional responsibility.” (source)

Jan 10: “Donald Trump incited a mob to attack the US Capitol. Impeachment is an affirmation of our fundamental constitutional values.” (source)

Jan 11: “We need to submit the articles of impeachment to the Senate early this week. Force McConnell to make a decision. An impeachment trial takes a few days. We can hold Trump accountable and pursue our agenda.” (source)

Jan 12: “The Articles of Impeachment should be sent immediately to McConnell. Let him explain to the American people why we’re not holding this president accountable for his words.” (source)

Jan 13: “Today, I’m voting to impeach Donald Trump. We must stand up for our Constitution…” (source)

Jan 25: “There’s nothing political about holding Donald Trump accountable. Impeachment is the necessary constitutional step to protect the rule of law.” (source)

Compare that to what Khanna told Sam this week:

Impeachment, in my view, is a pragmatic decision. It’s not simply a decision if someone commits an unconstitutional act. And I don’t think right now is the time for us to be able to build the anti-war coalition, and to be able to build a majority in ’26 and ’28 for us to advance that. But it’s not that I don’t think [Trump’s] action was unconstitutional on Iran.

Later that evening, he wrote on X:

Iran strikes, like Libya & Yemen wars, were unconstitutional. I voted against impeachment, even though I voted for impeachment twice before, to focus on peace. We move to accountability by building a big coalition for an alternative vision: peace abroad, good-paying jobs at home.

“Khanna was pounding the table on impeaching Trump over J6, presenting himself as a principled defender of the rule of law, presidential accountability, ‘fundamental constitutional values,’ and Congress fulfilling its ‘constitutional responsibility,’ ” Sam says.

“But when it comes to bombing other countries—be it Trump in Iran, Biden in Yemen, or Obama in Libya—he’s content to simply note the unconstitutionality without invoking the proper constitutional remedy.”

“I like the transpartisan nature of the War Powers Resolution that he introduced with Thomas Massie,” Sam adds, “but it’s not sufficient. As I’ve written, what is needed is principled impeachment.”