Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) should have known better than to walk onto Maria Bartiromo’s set on Fox Business and try to rewrite history. Instead, the California congressman found himself steamrolled in a bruising on-air exchange. All bets were off after his insistence that former President Barack Obama “delivered” on Iran.
Pressed by Bartiromo on whether he truly believed Obama’s leadership on Iran was better than President Donald Trump’s, Khanna replied, “Yes.”
Despite his repeated interruptions, Bartiromo presented him with some inconvenient facts:
Because under President Obama, there were 14 wire transfers to a — hold on, hold on. There were 14 wire transfers to a Swiss account linked to Hezbollah between 2014 and 2016. That was a total of $1.7 billion.The same $1.7 billion he told Congress was frozen Iranian assets. Now, there was a back channel to Tehran through Valerie Jarrett — active from 2012 to 2024.This was after he left office. So, you know, it was almost like a shadow government. He also sent pallets of cash in a plane to Iran.Now, why would you send money to Iran knowing that they are building a nuclear weapon and they are the leading sponsor of terrorism?
Unable to deny her account, Khanna pivoted. “Barack Obama was a great statesman who left America much safer,” he said. “I wouldn’t put Donald Trump in the same paragraph.”
He then recited a peculiar set of talking points:
The reality is that when President Obama left, because of the great efforts of people like Valerie Jarrett, we had 97% of the enriched uranium out.The reality is we didn’t have 13 American service members dead.The reality is we never had gas go up from $2.30 to $4.The reality is we didn’t give China more role in the region.
Not quite sure why Khanna raised the issue of the 13 American service members killed during former President Joe Biden’s botched withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan. Nor is it clear why he would praise a polarizing figure like Valerie Jarrett.
His economic claims were also way off the mark. Prior to the U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, the national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline was $2.98, not $2.30. And if anything, the war has weakened China’s influence in the region.
Bartiromo tried to interject, but Khanna continued:
We didn’t give the IRGC a more hardline regime in there.You know why. Because Obama actually did his homework. He actually tried to engage in statesmanship. He had gotten China, Russia, the entire European allies on board with getting Iran on a path to not having a nuclear weapon. [What?]All Trump did is listen to Netanyahu. That’s his entire foreign policy. And you know what, I resent the fact that Israel is going to tell the United States what to do. The American president should call the shots in this country.
Bartiromo took the opening. She agreed that the president should be the one calling the shots and said, “You and your colleagues are trying to clip his wings right now with this war powers vote, right?”
“Look, a lot of what you just said simply isn’t true,” she added bluntly.
Khanna appeared visibly rattled. He pushed back, insisting her characterization was “not true.”
Clearly frustrated, Bartiromo shot back: “What’s not true?”
He began to spin rapidly through more talking points. Khanna argued that the U.S. had been on a path toward a denuclearized Iran [under Obama], but that Israel and AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) had “dragged us into another war.”
Bartiromo pointed out that every president since Bill Clinton has maintained that Iran must never obtain a nuclear weapon.
“And one president delivered. And that was Barack Obama,” Khanna shot back.
“No, that’s not true,” Bartiromo replied. “Not one of them did anything about it.”
“Barack Obama is the only one who delivered,” Khanna repeated.
Incredulous, Bartiromo fired back: “Congressman, you’re talking fantasy.”
“97 percent out,” Khanna insisted.
But Bartiromo wasn’t having it. “Obama did nothing about it. You’re talking fantasy. Obama did nothing about it. Other than send money to the Iranians.”
“Not true,” he replied. “Obama got the whole world [behind the effort to end Iran’s nuclear program]. He didn’t send money to them. That’s just factually false. He unfroze Iranian assets, but he had the whole world behind us.”
I suppose we should give Khanna some credit for agreeing to an interview on Fox. Still, after years of gentle treatment from sympathetic interviewers, he appeared soft and entirely out of his depth once confronted with real scrutiny.
Here is the full version of their exchange:
Democrats can disagree with the war, but facts still matter. On her Saturday program, Fox News’ Kayleigh McEnany laid out an accurate timeline of the Obama administration’s dealings with the Iranian regime. Far from ending Iran’s nuclear ambitions, they allowed Tehran to preserve and legitimize key elements of its nuclear program, providing the regime with a pathway — albeit a delayed one — to obtaining a nuclear weapon.
In the end, this exchange wasn’t just a clash of opinions — it was a test of credibility. And Khanna struggled to defend a narrative that simply didn’t hold up. His version of events was just as Bartiromo said — a fantasy. That approach might fly in friendlier venues, but across from a veteran journalist like Maria Bartiromo, it fell apart.
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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