U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Santa Clara, supported Maine Senate candidate Graham Platner until sexual misconduct allegations could no longer be ignored. 

Rep. Ro Khanna was having a good run there — for a while.

A prospective 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, Khanna has been front and center on American television screens, along with apostate GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, spearheading the House investigation of convicted sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein, President Donald J. Trump’s onetime “closest friend.” 

Get Digital Access and Stay Informed With Trusted Local News.

Get Digital Access and Stay Informed With Trusted Local News.

Khanna, of Santa Clara, has used the investigation of the late sex offender to raise his national profile and inflict political damage on the president and his allies — not that doing so has been that hard. 

Article continues below this ad

For those keeping score on sexual predation, this week, a U.S. district judge ordered Trump to pay a nearly $5.8 million judgment to E. Jean Carroll for sexually abusing her in a department store changing room and defaming her. 

With Trump’s own history of sexual assault back in the headlines, connecting the dots between Epstein, Trump and the Republicans who have gone radio silent on the matter has felt, at times, like a slam dunk. 

See more S.F. Chronicle on Google

But in politics, as on Epstein’s island, strange bedfellows have a way of spoiling things. 

In the Democrats’ fervor to retake Congress and turn the page on Trump, Khanna and too many of his colleagues have squandered the moral high ground,........

© San Francisco Chronicle