House Republican Says ‘We Gotta Investigate’ Elon Musk, Says Billionaire May Have Broken the Law After Bombshell Report
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) called for an investigation into Elon Musk on Tuesday, warning that the billionaire may have broken the law by reportedly ordering a slowdown of a critical satellite service used by Ukraine’s military in its war against Russia.
According to a Tuesday report from The Wall Street Journal, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO ordered a slowdown of Starshield, a military-grade version of Starlink used by Ukraine, last week, restricting connection speeds and rendering many Ukrainian drones inoperable. The move reportedly sparked “panic in Kyiv and confusion inside the Trump administration,” with U.S. officials offering conflicting accounts of whether President Donald Trump knew about the decision beforehand.
Fitzpatrick joined Tuesday’s edition of CNN’s The Source to discuss the matter.
“Is it clear to you who is responsible for this?” the network’s Kaitlan Collins asked. “Is it Elon Musk?”
“Well, that’s what the report says, but we gotta investigate,” said Fitzpatrick. “We gotta call the witnesses, gotta bring ’em in, put ’em under oath, and get to the bottom of it because this is a very, very serious matter. It cannot be glossed over. We cannot just move past this. This is a serious, serious issue because lapsing Starshield in that matter — that costs human lives. There’s gotta be consequences to that.”
The Republican congressman continued:
If it is in fact Mr. Musk that ordered this, that is likely a violation of the law because he has authority, decision-making authority over Starlink, the civilian commercial product, but not Starshield, which is a military-grade national security tool. So, no civilian, no individual civilian, should have any decision-making authority on how that’s deployed. So, that’s what we need to get to the bottom of.
I promise you, Kaitlan, I’ve spoken to several of my colleagues across the aisle over the past several days. There is a strong, strong resolve to, immediately upon our return, get to the bottom of this through oversight, and there’s gotta be consequences.
“So, that could include putting Elon Musk under oath, in your view?” Collins followed up.
“This is an investigation. You gotta interview everybody, yes,” confirmed Fitzpatrick.
The CNN host then mentioned insistence from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that the Trump administration wasn’t involved, wondering, “Is there any way there could be restrictions to Starshield without the Pentagon knowing about it?”
“No,” the Republican said. “There shouldn’t be. If there is, that’s a major, major process flaw that also needs to be addressed, investigated, and fixed.”
He added, “These answers are wildly insufficient. There’s a lot of finger-pointing, a lot of people saying, “Well, not me.” Okay, if not you, then who? Right? They have the ability inside the executive branch to determine where the problem was, identify the person, identify the policy… We have to get to the bottom of it, and we will.”
Fitzpatrick went on to slam Russia as a “brutal dictatorship,” telling Collins that “Ukraine is the victim here. Russia is the aggressor. Ukraine did not provoke anything. They’re defending their own land, and we need to stand by them unequivocally and unapologetically.”
Yet Trump signed an executive order Friday to waive a slew of sanctions against Russia that he had just recently signed into law, a week after announcing a diesel deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin. And he recently told Newsmax that he finds Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “to be more difficult to deal with than Putin.”
Watch above on CNN.
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