A reporting trip to Washington DC to interview Congressman Ro Khanna about the Epstein Files.
This is an edition of Field Notes, a behind-the-scenes at how one of our journalists reports out a story on location. They detail their trip in a timestamped diary format and take you along with them as they report their story. This article originally appeared in the Vox Explainer, our members-only newsletter about how we make our journalism.
Today, we have an edition of Field Notes, a reporter’s log from Today, Explained producer Jesse Ash. He recently took a trip with host Astead Herndon to Washington, DC, to interview Congressman Ro Khanna (D-CA) on the evening of the State of the Union.
Hey there Vox Members,
For all you East Coasters, this latest Bomb Cyclone was a hell of a winter storm. Hopefully, it gave you time to watch at least one of our Today, Explained Saturday video episodes with host Astead Herndon. If not, you can watch the last five here: Today, Explained - YouTube Playlist.
This past week, Astead and I traveled back down to Washington, DC, to speak with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) on the evening of the State of the Union. Khanna may not be a household name, but he has been working with a Republican colleague, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, on the release of all of the Epstein files with the Epstein Transparency Act, as well as the War Powers Resolution that had been designed to prevent a war in Iran.
I originally drafted these Field Notes before Operation Epic Fury began. Looking back at this interview just a week ago, we wished we had asked Khanna more about Iran and what Congress would do once a war started.
You can listen to the episode from this reporting trip here and watch the video version here.
—Jesse Ash, producer of Today, Explained
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 24TH
7:54 am ET: Over the weekend, we learned that a very BIG storm was coming to the east coast. Little did I know that, instead of producing a remote interview with Rep. Ro Khanna, I would have to drive down to Washington, DC, on Tuesday morning to make it happen. It was my only option. Astead was flying to DC from Chicago, since he couldn’t get back to NYC in time for a remote interview. I booked a train ticket to meet him, but Amtrak cancelled both due to the storm. There were no flights taking off from NYC before the afternoon. And in an eleventh-hour effort, I booked a bus from NYC’s Port Authority, but that was now scheduled to arrive at 2:20 pm, which was way too high a risk for a 4 pm interview. So I tried my best to de-ice my car the night before, and I hit the road.
1:05 pm ET: After two brief stops and five hours on the road, I landed in the nation’s capital. I used that time to listen to Kara Swisher’s interview with Khanna from January. I always try to do some additional story research on the way to a shoot. I also called my mom. She appreciated the call but also warned me not to drive drowsy.
That call was interrupted by an important message from the congressman’s chief of staff who wanted to push our interview from 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm due to his updated voting schedule. I quickly made a call to our local crew and, thankfully, pushing the interview back was not an issue. After parking my car in a garage near the hotel, I noticed that there was still a good amount of snow on the roof. Hopefully, DC’s warmer temps will melt that overnight — especially since I just learned that it’s illegal in 11 states to drive with ice and snow on your car, including New Jersey.
2:47 pm ET: I pick up Astead at Vox’s DC office, and we grab an Uber to the Cannon Building. DC traffic is notoriously bad, and today is no different. While we are stuck in traffic, I roll down my window to take a photo of the Washington Monument. This particular shot of the monument with a bulldozer in the foreground spoke to me. I knew my son would like this photo, as he loves construction vehicles. My son, upon review, did confirm it was a bulldozer and that it might have an excavator on the other side behind the fence. It also made me think of the current demolition projects at the White House.
5:23 pm ET: The congressman’s chief of staff emails with big apologies. Rep. Khanna is on the floor of Congress trying to save his seat for the State of the Union alongside his friend Republican Rep. Massie so they can sit together. They’re unsure if he’s going to be able to leave the floor. I am concerned. I don’t want this interview to cancel, especially after the Herculean effort to make this happen in person.
Minutes later, I get a message from his communication director that Khanna is on his way. Phew! He arrives and is excited to see Astead. The interview kicks off, and it’s three cameras rolling, four microphones, and a multi-cam monitor for our team to watch remotely.
In his interview, Khanna told us, “Next week, we're going to force a vote to stop the war in Iran.” Little did we know that he was going to be one week too late.
6:32 pm ET: After wrapping the interview, we take a quick production photo with our cinematographer Zach Wood, who we are truly grateful for making this production happen on short notice.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 25TH
7:00 am ET: I passed out the night before without getting a chance to watch the State of the Union. Apparently, it set another record with a runtime of 1 hour and 47 minutes; it was the longest State of the Union address in American history, surpassing Bill Clinton's 2000 speech by 20 minutes. I look at the photo in my room of Bill playing the saxophone while thinking about our conversion with Khanna about "the Epstein class." Who else is in those files?
Listen and watch the Today, Explained episode from this reporting trip: