Democrats on the House Oversight Committee moved to subpoena tech billionaire and Trump ally Elon Musk at a hearing Wednesday — and one Democrat was conspicuously and missing from the vote, Rep. Ro Khanna of California, who represents Silicon Valley and has a longtime relationship with the billionaire.
Khanna said he missed the vote and said he was unaware it was happening — but three Democrats familiar with the run-up to the vote who were granted anonymity to describe what ensued said Democrats were given a heads-up about the maneuver to try to catch Republicans by surprise. They said they believed Khanna knew the vote was happening and made an intentional decision to miss it.
In the end, the motion to subpoena Musk was shut down by Republicans on the committee on a 20-19 vote — with eight lawmakers missing the vote, including Democrats Khanna and Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.), who missed for an unrelated reason, one Democrat familiar with the planning said.
The rest of the members who missed were Republicans.
Khanna disputed the characterization that he missed the vote on purpose, saying on X that he “would have voted yes.”
“They called a procedural vote without notice & I like 8 others didn’t make it there on time,” he said in a post. “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’s post, writing to him, “Don’t be a dick.”
The three Democrats familiar with the planning said Khanna’s staff was properly notified about the vote ahead of time. A spokesperson for the California Democrat said “Congressman Khanna and his team had zero knowledge that this vote would be up.”
One senior Democratic aide said there was a member meeting Tuesday evening that Khanna missed to attend a meeting with the Progressive Caucus. Democrats also announced the motion to all staff and his staff was present on that call — and that the top Democrat on Oversight, Gerry Connolly, told the Democratic Caucus about the plan this morning, two people said.
“No staffer from our team was present on a call where this was announced,” the spokesperson for Khanna said.
