Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), a potential 2028 presidential candidate, called on Democrats to investigate bank officials from the 2008 financial crisis, leaders who started the war in Iraq, and other “powerful” Americans if Democrats take back the House as a result of the 2026 midterm elections.
“The bankers who caused the great financial crash in 2008 — they belong in jail. The officials who led us into the Iraq War — they need investigated. The Justice Department should never have delayed the Jan. 6 cases that led Trump back into power. And so here is what I can say: When we take back the House, when we take back the Senate — we subpoena, we investigate, and we prosecute,” Khanna said.
The leftist California congressman made the comments from the podium at the Democratic National Committee’s meeting in Texas on Saturday. He also supported the party’s policy position to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a position that not everyone in the party agreed on.
“We hold accountable the powerful who stole from this nation, who dodged this nation, and who kill innocent people on the streets in this nation,” Khanna said.
His statements come as a major Republican talking point in this midterm season has been the GOP push to hold each chamber in order to resist any counter-investigations from Democrats. House Majority Leader Mike Johnson (R-LA) spoke to this concern in June at the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority Conference.
“They will turn every committee of Congress into an investigative body, and they’ll go after the president’s family, the Cabinet, his donors, and friends,” Johnson said of Democrats. “Half of you in this room will be targeted.”
Khanna, who is at the helm of the more progressive wing of the Democratic Party, has elevated his name in the Democratic caucus under the Trump administration by pushing for the release of the Epstein files along with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY). Khanna has also boosted his political weight by endorsing candidates in key midterm races this year as eyes a 2028 White House run.
Khanna told NPR this week that he is “thinking seriously” about a presidential bid in 2028.
“These folks would have been the conquerors in a different era. They kind of think of themselves as above you and I,” Khanna told the outlet, referring to Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Peter Thiel. “And when I’m actually most inclined to run, I think, ‘I know these people.’ I understand the economic future, and I will have the guts to stand up to them.”
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Khanna backed the idea of abolishing ICE from the podium on Saturday, as the committee stood divided on whether to support the policy position of ICE abolition or reform.
“When I say we stand with workers, that includes our friends and neighbors who prepare our food, build our homes, and care for our children. That is why we must abolish ICE. It is a cruel, rogue agency,” Khanna said.