GOP rep: ‘We got to investigate’ Starlink slowdown report

Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.) is calling for a congressional investigation into the Starlink slowdown in Ukraine after a report that SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk personally ordered it.

“We got to call the witnesses, got to bring them in, put them under oath, and get to the bottom of it,” Fitzpatrick told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Tuesday. “We cannot just move past this. This is a serious, serious issue because lapsing Starshield in that manner that costs human lives, there’s got to be consequences to that.”

The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday that Musk directed the slowdown of Starshield, a military version of his Starlink internet owned and operated by the U.S. government. Ukrainian forces use Starshield as part of their efforts to defend the country from Russian attacks.

The move sparked bipartisan backlash on the heels of President Trump’s recent efforts to put distance between the U.S. and Ukraine, including waiving sanctions on Russian energy and calling for the replacement of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Fitzpatrick said Tuesday he spoke to several other lawmakers about investigating the slowdown once the House returns to Washington.

“I’ve spoken to several of my colleagues across the aisle over the past several days,” Fitzpatrick said. “There is a strong, strong resolve to immediately upon our return get to the bottom of this through oversight, and there’s got to be consequences.”

The Pennsylvania Republican, who co-chairs the Congressional Ukraine Caucus and once lived in the embattled country, is locked in a tough reelection battle in a district former Vice President Kamala Harris won in 2024. He has been one of the more willing GOP members of Congress to criticize Trump when the administration does something he disagrees with.

In Tuesday’s interview, Fitzpatrick threatened financial consequences for any federal agencies that may have had knowledge of the slowdown and Musk’s role.

“The executive branch of government does not have a dime of their own money in their own right. The taxpayer money is sent to them through the legislative branch, and there needs to be financial consequences to any agency or any agency head that had any part in this,” Fitzpatrick said.

He also called responses from executive branch officials “wildly insufficient.”

“There’s a lot of finger pointing, a lot of people saying, ‘Well, not me.’ OK, 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 answer,” the lawmaker added.