Despite the recent blockbuster Wall Street debut of his company, SpaceX, and his own newfound trillionaire status, CEO Elon Musk has faced sharp criticism from numerous US lawmakers over his seemingly never-ending rise in the ultra-wealthy ranks. Indian-American Rep. Ro Khanna, who co-authored the Epstein Files Transparency Act, joined many others in taking a swipe at the tech mogul. The two have since been embroiled in a heated exchange on social media.

Musk has now threatened to sue the potential 2028 presidential hopeful and branded him a “liar.” Congressman Khanna’s claims about the impact of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative’s cost-cutting efforts under the tech titan’s leadership served as the spark that lit the fuse this week, with the situation devolving into an ugly spat.

Khanna built his argument against Musk on a 2025 Lancet study determining that in the post-USAID world, 14 million people in low- and middle-income countries could die by 2030, including more than 4.5 million children under the age of 5. USAID, or the US Agency for International Development, was once the world’s largest foreign aid agency until the Donald Trump administration shut it down last year.

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Elon Musk says Ro Khanna should be ‘sued’ or even ‘jailed’

Responding to a tweet highlighting The New York Post’s coverage of Khanna’s statements, Elon Musk wrote on X, “Time to sue this liar.” In yet another post, the former temporary government employee argued, “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 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!!”

The tech titan also reposted several other social media comments, taking a dig at Khanna and his recent comments about DOGE cuts.

Musk maintained his argument against USAID. Referencing a 2025 Justice Department press release about a former USAID official’s guilty plea, Musk wrote online, “Absolutely. This is a total lie. All DOGE did was require contact with the aid recipients to confirm that funds were being used legitimately. Anything less than this is insane! Multiple people from USAID have been charged by the Justice Department with stealing money. Moreover, they pled GUILTY!!”

How did Elon Musk vs Ro Khanna row erupt?

It all started when Khanna, who represents California’s 17th Congressional District, located in the heart of Silicon Valley, appeared on the ‘I’ve Had It’ podcast and said that Musk “needs to answer” for the USAID cuts that he said led to millions of children’s deaths. Demanding accountability, he said, “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 USAID,” alluding to the SpaceX IPO’s success, which boosted the wealth of not just investors and top executives but also common employees.

The lawmaker continued, “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 DOGE. It’s not just ‘let’s move on.’”

His remarks alluded to how Elon’s then-DOGE leadership “chainsawed” USAID projects and contracts, impacting the agency that once saved millions of lives, according to Health Policy Watch.

One of the major moves made by the Donald Trump administration after the Republican leader returned to office for a second term was targeting USAID. Months later, it was officially shut down, while remaining operations were merged with the US State Department. Later that year, a report by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health suggested that hundreds of thousands of people had died from infectious diseases and malnutrition following the agency’s shutdown. 

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Atul Gawande further cited an analysis in The Lancet that, given USAID’s assistance in combating diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis, malaria, and polio, reducing maternal and child deaths, and fighting malnutrition, it had saved 92 million lives over two decades.

Khanna challenges Musk to debate

It won’t be surprising to see the world’s richest man go against a rising White House contender sometime soon. Rep. Ro Khanna made his intentions clear in a subsequent interview with CNBC, challenging the newly minted trillionaire to a televised debate after their fight over USAID escalated on social media.

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“Do it on CNN, do it on CNBC, do it at a university, he can pick the setting and let’s debate what happened at DOGE, let’s debate why I’m for a wealth tax. We can have a conversation of ideas if he believes in free speech and free expression about these issues,” the lawmaker said Monday (US time) after Musk’s thread of rants on the social media platform he owns, X.

“It’s not pleasant to have the world’s richest person with the biggest platform on X go say you should be in prison and that he’s going to sue you, and then I’m a liar,” Khanna added. “I’m taking on the richest person in the world, but I mean, I would hope that he would have an actual debate about it.”

Khanna’s comments in Monday’s interview echoed the larger argument being raised by the Democratic Party about taxing the rich.

Although an independent member of the US Congress, US Senator Bernie Sanders has often emerged as an advocate for “democratic socialism.” Both he and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani have also vehemently opposed Musk’s rise to trillionaire status.

Admitting that though Musk had at times previously shown support for him and a book he wrote, Khanna emphasised he has no plans to back off from questioning the wealthy, even as he represents one of the most affluent districts in the nation. “The most important moral test for the Democratic Party right now is, are you going to fight the Trump administration effectively, and are you going to fight the oligarchy,” he said during the CNBC interview. “And with my work on the Epstein files, and now calling out Musk, I have taken on those fights.”