Rep. Ro Khanna Calls GOP Witness Michael Lucci “Racist” at House China Hearing

A congressional hearing meant to tackle China’s theft of American jobs and technology turned into a viral clash over racism — and the real policy fight got buried in the noise.

Story Snapshot

Rep. Ro Khanna accused a Republican witness of racism during a House Select Committee hearing on China, shifting attention away from serious economic and security issues.
The witness, Luchi, said his denaturalization proposal applied only to people born in U.S. territories who immediately returned to China — not Chinese Americans born and raised in the U.S.
Khanna had raised real concerns about China stealing U.S. intellectual property and forcing unfair business deals on American companies.
Conservative media pounced on Khanna’s confrontation, calling him a “clown” — while the underlying policy debate over tariffs and trade enforcement got little attention.

What the Hearing Was Actually About

The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) held a hearing on June 26, 2026, focused on China’s economic espionage. Khanna, the committee’s ranking Democrat, opened by calling out what he described as clear threats to American workers. He said China has stolen intellectual property from U.S. manufacturers and forced American companies into unfair joint venture deals just to access Chinese markets.^[1] Those are serious charges — and largely not disputed across party lines.

Khanna also criticized the Trump administration’s trade deal, arguing that cutting tariffs on Chinese goods to 10% was too low — lower, he said, than tariffs the U.S. has placed on many of its closest allies.^[3] He called for what he termed “a new economic patriotism,” pushing for investment in American communities and self-reliance in critical industries.^[6] He and Republican Chairman John Moolenaar even sent a joint letter to three cabinet secretaries urging action against Futurewei Technologies, a Chinese telecom firm with ties to Huawei.^[4]

The Clash That Overshadowed Everything

The hearing went sideways when Khanna confronted witness Michael Lucci over a proposal to strip citizenship from certain individuals with ties to China. Khanna framed the proposal as racist. Lucci pushed back, saying his position was narrow — it applied only to people born in U.S. territories who immediately returned to China to live there permanently. He explicitly said Chinese Americans born and raised in the United States were not included. The exchange grew heated and drew wide attention online.

Conservative outlets ran with the confrontation. RedState labeled Khanna a “clown.” Forbes Breaking News posted the clip under the headline “Ro Khanna Straight Up Accuses Witness Of Being A Racist,” which drew tens of thousands of views. The framing turned a policy hearing into a culture war moment. Whether or not Khanna’s accusation was fair, the result was predictable: the substance of the hearing — China’s economic aggression against the U.S. — got lost.

Why Both Sides Should Pay Attention

Here is the frustrating part for anyone who cares about the country’s future. Both conservatives and liberals have real reasons to worry about China’s economic influence. China has used forced technology transfers, subsidized its own industries, and run up a massive trade surplus with the United States for decades. American manufacturing jobs have disappeared. Real wages for working people have stagnated. These are facts that cross party lines — and they deserve serious debate, not a cable news food fight.

Instead, Washington delivered exactly what it usually does: a hearing that generated heat but little light. Khanna raised valid concerns about trade enforcement and job losses.^[1] He also helped produce a rare bipartisan letter demanding action on a specific Chinese tech company.^[4] But the racism accusation — whether justified or not — handed his critics a weapon and gave everyone an excuse to stop listening. For the millions of Americans who have watched their communities hollowed out by offshoring and unfair trade, that is a familiar and deeply discouraging pattern.