Representative Ro Khanna sparred with a Republican witness during a House Select Committee on China hearing about economic espionage and subnational influence, and the exchange quickly turned into a public clash over birth tourism, national security, and accusations of racism; the witness, State Armor CEO Michael Lucci, pushed back hard, noted his family ties to China, and laid out a forceful argument about why opposing certain birthright schemes is about security, not race.
The hearing focused on China’s economic espionage and subnational influence in the United States, and one witness highlighted the security risks associated with birth tourism tied to the Chinese Communist Party. When Ro Khanna questioned him, the congressman pressed Lucci over past tweets and suggested the comments were anti-Chinese. The line of questioning expanded quickly from policy to personal accusation, and the room responded with visible tension.
Lucci answered by pointing out his own family background to undercut the racism charge: he is married to a Chinese woman, his four children are half Chinese, and his in-laws are Chinese. That factual context changed the frame of the argument from a simple charge of prejudice to a debate about the substance and motives behind policy positions. The witness used that personal context to emphasize that his concerns are security driven, not racially motivated.
After the hearing, Lucci posted an extended statement on social media explaining why he opposes birth tourism schemes tied to the CCP and why Khanna’s approach was damaging to committee work. He described the threats he has documented: harassment of state lawmakers, surveillance of military sites, and attacks on critical infrastructure. Lucci argued that the committee’s time should be spent addressing those concrete threats rather than trading accusations.
The witness reiterated that some birthright schemes involve children who are born on U.S. soil, returned to China within days, and raised there as loyal to the CCP with no real ties to the United States. He warned that such cases create a potential vector for influence operations, with long-term implications for voting, loyalty, and national security. That line of reasoning framed the debate as one about vulnerability and exploitation of citizenship rules.
My response to @RepRoKhanna’s self-immolation in committee today:
Ro Khanna owes the American people an apology.
https://x.com/Michael7ucci/status/2040463766018474330
I’ve testified in 20 state capitols across the country. I’ve never seen a lawmaker embarrass himself like Ro Khanna did today.
Ro is a leader of the most important committee for countering the Chinese Communist Party. Instead of dealing in substance and policy, he pulled out the race card in the most self-embarrassing way today while also peddling ridiculous conspiracy theories.
The American people need real solutions to acute national security issues. Ro Khanna is burning up committee time on nonsense.
Here’s what happened: I testified today about how American state lawmakers are being threatened, harassed and attacked by Chinese state-tied actors. Our military installations are being closely surveilled. Chinese-Americans are being hunted down by CCP government agents. Critical infrastructure is being attacked.
Rep. Khanna ignored all those threats, *including threats to fellow Democrats who are currently sitting state lawmakers.* Honestly, I’m shocked that it did not register with him that a Chinese company threatened a Democrat state official. Instead, Ro dug up a tweet where I criticized CCP birth tourism and tried to call me racist.
Of course, he completely failed.
I oppose birth tourism schemes through which CCP military and political leaders get U.S. citizenship for their children by giving birth in Saipan and then raising their children loyal to the CCP in China. It’s completely crazy that we allow this. @peterschweizer has documented this scandal in his recent book. This shouldn’t be a partisan issue.
Lucci expanded on the specific case of two suspects who attempted to attack a U.S. military installation, arguing Khanna downplayed the seriousness of those threats while focusing on charges of racism. He pointed to public polling showing a large portion of Americans oppose automatic citizenship for children born to tourists and used that statistic to underscore his claim that opposition to birth tourism is widely shared. His messaging tied public opinion to national security concerns rather than to xenophobia.
And here’s the context: Ro was angry that I criticized birth tourism as a part of my criticism of two Chinese-Americans who attempted to bomb MacDill Air Force Base earlier this year. According to Rep. Khanna, the bombers Alen Zheng (20) and his sister Ann Mary Zheng (27) achieved American citizenship through some sort of birthright program. It’s unclear whether they were just born and raised here, or if they were a part of the Saipan scheme I criticized.
But either way, Ro Khanna was lifting up and defending people who were basically terrorists who tried to bomb CENTCOM March 10th of this year. Then he turned around and claimed the real problem is racists who think birth tourism is a bad idea.
Guess who thinks birth tourism is a bad idea? 75% of the American people according to a YouGov poll from last year: “The group Americans are least likely to say should automatically receive U.S. citizenship — of the nine asked about in the survey — is children born in the U.S. to parents who are tourists visiting the country. 25% of Americans, including 11% of Republicans and 41% of Democrats, think children born to tourists on American soil should automatically receive U.S. citizenship.”
Sorry 75% of Americans who have common sense. @RepRoKhanna thinks you’re all racists!
Furthermore, with the CCP, we are talking about cases where a child in simply born on a U.S. pacific island and then returns to China within days, never to see the USA again. Ro Khanna apparently thinks giving citizenship to all of these people is a great idea, even if they are completely loyal to the CCP, absolutely hate the USA, and have never stepped foot in our country.
To me and to practically anyone with common sense who analyzes the CCP, this is an obvious vector for CCP grey-zone political warfare. For example, imagine 1,500,000 CCP loyalists raised entirely in China voting across swing states in our elections.
Nonetheless, Ro Khanna went on a rant to claim that I’m an anti-Chinese racist because I oppose this obviously ridiculous birth tourism scheme.
Lucci then returned to his family point and criticized Khanna’s handling of the hearing, saying the congressman’s tactics hurt bipartisan cooperation on real threats. The witness accused Khanna of wasting committee time and called for a focus on concrete policy measures to counter CCP influence instead of political theater. That criticism was aimed at refocusing attention on tangible vulnerabilities and the need for realistic solutions.
Now here’s where Ro really jumped the shark. In his rush to conjure up a triple bank-shot conspiracy theory to try to claim I’m a racist, he apparently didn’t do any homework to find out anything about me.
I’m married to an immigrant from China who became an American citizen in 2019. We have 4 wonderful children who are, of course, half Chinese by ethnicity. Ro was ranting at the dais claiming I’m racist against my own family simply because I oppose all the various schemes of the genocidal Chinese Communist Party, and I hold a position on birth tourism shared by 75% of the American people. And I bet it would be way higher than 75% if the question was focused on the CCP Saipan scheme.
As I told Ro in committee, calling someone an anti-Chinese racist for opposing the CCP is like calling someone an anti-Italian racist for opposing the mafia. Both examples are absurd. Embarrassingly so.
The American people need real leaders and real national security solutions from both federal and state governments. That’s what we work on every day at @StateArmor.
We don’t need @RepRoKhanna wasting time be-clowning himself in committee when there is so much real work that needs to be done.
Ro insulted me and my family today. But honestly, I don’t know anyone who puts any value in what Ro says. So that doesn’t really matter. Today’s self-embarrassment was just one more part of Ro’s ongoing self-immolation that includes endorsing Nazi-sympathetic candidates, claiming @elonmusk killed millions of kids, and being one of the most prolific stock traders in Congress. And that’s just in the last few weeks.
But here’s what matters: Ro Khanna is an elected official who is tasked with dealing with our most urgent national security issues, like those I brought before him and the
@ChinaSelect committee today. And instead of engaging in a real policy discussion, he destroyed our ability to work together on real solutions to counter the attacks by the Chinese Communist Party.
For that, he owes the American people an apology.
The public clash left witnesses and observers debating whether committee time was used well and whether charges of racism were weaponized to avoid difficult policy questions. The episode highlights a broader tension on how to confront the CCP: some want to emphasize security and structural risks, while others warn against rhetoric that targets a community. Either way, the committee’s handling of the exchange will be watched by those tracking U.S.-China policy and the politics around it.
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