Lawmakers call for Musk probe over Starlink slowdown that hobbled Ukraine's drones

Bipartisan lawmakers want an investigation into Elon Musk after the Wall Street Journal reported that the SpaceX chief personally restricted Ukraine’s access to the Starshield satellite service (WSJ).

Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick said Congress should call Musk and other witnesses to testify under oath. “We got to investigate,” he told CNN on Tuesday. “We got to call the witnesses, got to bring them in, put them under oath and get to the bottom of it because this is a very, very serious matter.” He added that Congress could block funding for agencies or officials involved.

Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff also called for a Senate investigation and for Musk to testify under oath, writing that “national security decisions should be made in our national security interests, and not based on the personal whim of an unstable executive.”

Republican Sens. Thom Tillis, Lisa Murkowski and John Cornyn, with Democratic colleagues, last week asked the Pentagon’s Inspector General to investigate whether the Pentagon or its contractors had any role; the IG’s office said it is preparing a response.

Last week the Journal reported that Musk capped Ukrainian hardware’s connection speeds, cutting drone video feeds above 100 mph (WSJ). The restriction followed anger from Musk and Trump at Ukrainian strikes on Russian diesel refineries. Trump said on Monday he did not know who was responsible, “but I would like to find out.” Musk posted that “any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS.”