The Journal reported that Trump asked Musk to remove caps Musk had set on Starshield, the hardened variant of SpaceX's Starlink that U.S. and Ukrainian officials say Ukraine depends on in its war with Russia. Those officials told the outlet Starshield's performance improved on Thursday soon after a phone call between Trump and Musk.
Earlier in the week, the Journal said Musk had ordered a Starlink slowdown. Two unnamed sources said Trump and Musk discussed the throttling "soon after" it became public last week, and one source said Musk had talked to Trump before imposing the speed limit.
Trump on Thursday declined to say if he made the call, noting he did not "want to comment one way or the other." As he left the White House for a rally in Iowa, he added, "Whether I called or whether somebody else called, doesn't make any difference." He also told reporters, "The bottom line, he put it back." On Wednesday he said, "I don't know who did it, but I was not involved."
At the same time, as the dispute has played out, Trump has escalated his attacks on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over Ukraine's strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, and he has sought an arrangement to relax sanctions on Russia so it can export a limited amount of diesel worldwide.
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Appearing on CNBC's Squawk Box on Wednesday, Sen. John Cornyn said he does not think Musk would have throttled Starlink absent "at least the acquiescence of the White House."
On Thursday, Blumenthal - the top Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security Committee's investigations panel - opened a probe into how SpaceX's satellite service was "degraded for Ukraine without notice." In letters to Musk and Hegseth, he wrote, "This decision to limit critical technology for a key ally not only put Ukrainian forces at risk and their people in peril, but raises serious questions about who controls critical capabilities the U.S. government has spent billions of dollars to procure."
Neither the White House nor a Musk-linked email address responded promptly when CNBC reached out about Thursday's report that Trump urged Musk to remove the limits.
When battlefield communications run through a private platform, business decisions can become national security questions overnight. That brings political risk, procurement scrutiny, and headline volatility to companies at the intersection of satellite and defense tech. The bottom line: oversight pressure and contract uncertainty can move valuations as fast as any launch window.
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