President Donald Trump asked Elon Musk to ease restrictions he had imposed on the military-grade version of SpaceX 's Starlink system in Ukraine, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday, citing U.S. officials.
The Starshield system, which Ukraine depends on in its war against Russia, was "working more normally Thursday, shortly after" Trump spoke to Musk by phone, U.S. and Ukrainian officials told the Journal.
The newspaper reported Tuesday that Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX and a critic of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, had ordered the Starlink slowdown.
Two unnamed sources in that report said Trump and Musk had discussed the decision to throttle Starlink "soon after" the change first became public last week, while one source said Musk had spoken to Trump prior to imposing the speed cap.
Trump has repeatedly denied involvement in the decision and said he does not know if Musk was behind it.
"I don't know who did it, but I was not involved," Trump said Wednesday.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, told CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Wednesday morning that he does not believe Musk would throttle Starlink without "at least the acquiescence of the White House."
The White House and an email associated with Musk did not immediately respond to CNBC's requests for comment on Thursday's report that Trump had asked Musk to lift the restrictions.
This is developing news. Please check back for updates.
