Crow: Elon Musk having control to cut off Starlink to Ukraine is 'beyond disturbing to me'
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Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) on Sunday said that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk having the ability to cut off Starlink access to Ukraine is “beyond disturbing to me.”
“Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan asked Crow about satellite services provided by SpaceX being fully restored in Ukraine after Musk on Saturday alluded that he slowed down Starlink’s use for the Ukrainian military.
She asked if an “unelected official can have such unilateral influence over our national security policy?”
“Yeah, it appears to be the case, and it’s beyond disturbing to me, which is why I also wrote a letter directly to President Trump, along with Adam Smith of the Armed Services Committee and Jim Himes of the Intelligence Committee … saying we deserve answers,” Crow said.
“It cannot and should not be the case that a tech oligarch, a private citizen, who has the most control over our national security, who is unaccountable, who is unelected, with zero transparency, is making life-and-death decisions on the battlefield, and systems that our service members and our partners and allies rely upon,” he added. “It should not be the case.”
Crow said the Trump administration allowed this to happen and vowed that Democrats will “try to stop it.”
Musk wrote on his social platform X that Starlink was slowed down because the “Ukraine military violated Starlink terms of service and used it for offensive drone strikes to kill people.” He added this “loophole” was closed last week.
This slowdown happened as the Ukrainian military faced restricted access to Starshield, the military version of Starlink, which affected military drones, airplanes and helicopters traveling more than 100 mph. Musk maintained that the U.S. government controls Starshield and that what “they decide to do is up to them.”
“Using Starlink, a civilian commercial service, for offensive drone strikes to kill people has never been allowed, nor should it be,” Musk wrote Saturday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Saturday that satellite links had been restored and thanked “all Americans” and partners who assisted in this effort, including U.S. lawmakers, the State Department, the media and Trump.
After The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk ordered the slowdown of Starshield, several Democrats called for an investigation into the matter.
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) told NBC News’s “Meet the Press” that, should Democrats regain control of the Senate, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth should testify about what happened with the slowdown.
Trump has denied ordering any restrictions on Starlink’s usage in Ukraine.
“You’ve got the president saying one thing, you’ve got Elon Musk saying another thing, you have them both saying different things at different times,” Schiff said. “Somebody is lying here. Maybe they’re all lying in different ways, but we need to find out.”
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Read the full story at BBC ↗ · NPR ↗ · Axios ↗ · The Hill ↗
Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) on Sunday said that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk having the ability to cut off Starlink access to Ukraine is "beyond disturbing to me." "Face the Nation" host…
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Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) on Sunday said that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk having the ability to cut off Starlink access to Ukraine is “beyond disturbing to me.”
“Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan asked Crow about satellite services provided by SpaceX being fully restored in Ukraine after Musk on Saturday alluded that he slowed down Starlink’s use for the Ukrainian military.
She asked if an “unelected official can have such unilateral influence over our national security policy?”
“Yeah, it appears to be the case, and it’s beyond disturbing to me, which is why I also wrote a letter directly to President Trump, along with Adam Smith of the Armed Services Committee and Jim Himes of the Intelligence Committee … saying we deserve answers,” Crow said.
“It cannot and should not be the case that a tech oligarch, a private citizen, who has the most control over our national security, who is unaccountable, who is unelected, with zero transparency, is making life-and-death decisions on the battlefield, and systems that our service members and our partners and allies rely upon,” he added. “It should not be the case.”
Crow said the Trump administration allowed this to happen and vowed that Democrats will “try to stop it.”
Musk wrote on his social platform X that Starlink was slowed down because the “Ukraine military violated Starlink terms of service and used it for offensive drone strikes to kill people.” He added this “loophole” was closed last week.
This slowdown happened as the Ukrainian military faced restricted access to Starshield, the military version of Starlink, which affected military drones, airplanes and helicopters traveling more than 100 mph. Musk maintained that the U.S. government controls Starshield and that what “they decide to do is up to them.”
“Using Starlink, a civilian commercial service, for offensive drone strikes to kill people has never been allowed, nor should it be,” Musk wrote Saturday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Saturday that satellite links had been restored and thanked “all Americans” and partners who assisted in this effort, including U.S. lawmakers, the State Department, the media and Trump.
After The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk ordered the slowdown of Starshield, several Democrats called for an investigation into the matter.
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) told NBC News’s “Meet the Press” that, should Democrats regain control of the Senate, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth should testify about what happened with the slowdown.
Trump has denied ordering any restrictions on Starlink’s usage in Ukraine.
“You’ve got the president saying one thing, you’ve got Elon Musk saying another thing, you have them both saying different things at different times,” Schiff said. “Somebody is lying here. Maybe they’re all lying in different ways, but we need to find out.”
Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Read the full story at BBC ↗ · NPR ↗ · Axios ↗ · The Hill ↗
Skip to content
Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) on Sunday said that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk having the ability to cut off Starlink access to Ukraine is “beyond disturbing to me.”
“Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan asked Crow about satellite services provided by SpaceX being fully restored in Ukraine after Musk on Saturday alluded that he slowed down Starlink’s use for the Ukrainian military.
She asked if an “unelected official can have such unilateral influence over our national security policy?”
“Yeah, it appears to be the case, and it’s beyond disturbing to me, which is why I also wrote a letter directly to President Trump, along with Adam Smith of the Armed Services Committee and Jim Himes of the Intelligence Committee … saying we deserve answers,” Crow said.
“It cannot and should not be the case that a tech oligarch, a private citizen, who has the most control over our national security, who is unaccountable, who is unelected, with zero transparency, is making life-and-death decisions on the battlefield, and systems that our service members and our partners and allies rely upon,” he added. “It should not be the case.”
Crow said the Trump administration allowed this to happen and vowed that Democrats will “try to stop it.”
Musk wrote on his social platform X that Starlink was slowed down because the “Ukraine military violated Starlink terms of service and used it for offensive drone strikes to kill people.” He added this “loophole” was closed last week.
This slowdown happened as the Ukrainian military faced restricted access to Starshield, the military version of Starlink, which affected military drones, airplanes and helicopters traveling more than 100 mph. Musk maintained that the U.S. government controls Starshield and that what “they decide to do is up to them.”
“Using Starlink, a civilian commercial service, for offensive drone strikes to kill people has never been allowed, nor should it be,” Musk wrote Saturday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Saturday that satellite links had been restored and thanked “all Americans” and partners who assisted in this effort, including U.S. lawmakers, the State Department, the media and Trump.
After The Wall Street Journal reported that Musk ordered the slowdown of Starshield, several Democrats called for an investigation into the matter.
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) told NBC News’s “Meet the Press” that, should Democrats regain control of the Senate, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth should testify about what happened with the slowdown.
Trump has denied ordering any restrictions on Starlink’s usage in Ukraine.
“You’ve got the president saying one thing, you’ve got Elon Musk saying another thing, you have them both saying different things at different times,” Schiff said. “Somebody is lying here. Maybe they’re all lying in different ways, but we need to find out.”
Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Read the full story at BBC ↗ · NPR ↗ · Axios ↗ · The Hill ↗
This lens runs the verified story through Cinnamon's AI — wired in the next step.
- Jason Crow (D-Colo.) on Sunday said that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk having the ability to cut off Starlink access to Ukraine is "beyond disturbing to me." "Face the Nation" host…