Musk vs Khanna Feud Escalates: Musk Calls for Arrest Over Insider Trading as Khanna Seeks TV Debate on DOGE Cuts

Representative Ro Khanna's household net worth surged from around $30 million to $232.7 million over the past decade, primarily attributable to US stock returns. Khanna does not own or trade stocks himself, but the investment portfolio is managed through a family trust belonging to his wife Ritu Khanna. Note that the trust holds pre-marital assets, and is managed by third-party managers on a day-to-day basis.

The portfolio has reportedly witnessed 38,666 trades since 2017 or trading volumes of $630.9 million, according to Quiver Quantitative data.

Trillionaire Elon Musk called out Khanna's net worth surge yesterday and even urged the US Justice Department to arrest him for Congressional insider trading activity. However, Khanna retorted by saying that Musk is acting this way because he has been talking about a report that claimed that cuts to USAID under DOGE could lead to the death of over 4.5 million children worldwide.

In a podcast over the weekend, Khanna said Musk had to answer for the 'children around the world who he possibly sentenced to death by dismantling USAID.' In response to The New York Post's writeup about Khanna's comments, Musk tweeted that it is 'Time to sue this liar,' before focus turned to Khanna's net worth gains over the past decade.

Reports suggest that Khanna's AI trades returned 112% excess over the S&P 500 between January 2024 and April 2026, beating even Nancy Pelosi's 38.5% gains during the same period.

Furthermore, a 2022 investigation reportedly found 15% overlap between Khanna's legislative work and family stock holdings. His portfolio managed by the trust also witnessed a massive 143% return on Nvidia stock purchased in February 2024, just before the CHIPS Act helped double the stock price.

In response to an X post compiling these details, Musk labelled the representative as 'Robber Khanna' as people gradually realise he happens to be the most active insider trader in Congress.

'I Am Not Intimidated': Khanna Challenges Musk to a Debate

In a Monday interview with CNBC, Khanna said: 'I challenge him to a debate ... 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.

On CNN, Khanna added that he has been leading the initiative to ban Congressional stock trading.

On X, he highlighted how the world's richest person has spent an entire day attacking the representative. Khanna urged Musk not to threaten him, but engage in a constructive debate because 'you are not going to be able to intimidate me. I am the guy who stood up to the Epstein class.'

While noting that Musk 'lost it' when he cited the academic paper about DOGE cuts, he said: '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. And with my work on the Epstein files, and now calling out Musk, I have taken on those fights.'

SpaceX shares fell 16% amid the rout and by a further 4% during premarket hours on Tuesday, which coincided with the company's $20 billion bond offering and the assignment of a 'sector-weight' stock rating by KeyBanc Capital Markets.