WASHINGTON — A group of Democratic senators is sounding the alarm on recent deals secured between foreign countries and Starlink, which is owned by special government employee Elon Musk, asking for an investigation into whether the Trump administration is opening doors for agreements to be cut for the private company. 

What You Need To Know

  • A group of Democratic senators is sounding the alarm on recent deals secured between foreign countries and Starlink, which is owned by special government employee Elon Musk, asking for an investigation into whether the Trump administration is opening doors for agreements to be cut for the private company
  • The senators sent a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi, White House Designated Agency Ethics Official Scott Gast, State Department acting Inspector General Arne Baker and acting Director of the Office of Government Ethics Jamieson Greer
  • The lawmakers specifically pointed to Lesotho granting Starlink a license to operate a satellite network soon after Trump’s tariff announcement as well as recent deals between the satellite company and Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Vietnam and India
  • Musk was featured prominently on Trump’s first major international trip to the Middle East and announced he had secured his own deal for Starlink with Saudi Arabia 

In a letter sent to Attorney General Pam Bondi, White House Designated Agency Ethics Official Scott Gast, State Department acting Inspector General Arne Baker and acting Director of the Office of Government Ethics Jamieson Greer, who is also Trump’s trade representative, the senators asked for a probe into whether the administration was using negotiations with foreign governments, and specifically trade talks in the wake of President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs, to intervene “to benefit Starlink.” 

The group of eight senators, led by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Mark Warner of Virginia — who all hold the top Democratic spot on key committees in the upper chamber — argued that Starlink, Musk’s satellite internet company, had been struggling to secure deals in certain emerging markets overseas before Trump’s return to power. 

Since then, however, the senators said Starlink, which is a subsidiary of Musk’s SpaceX, “has seen a rush of new countries permitting the company to enter their markets,” particularly as the administration set off to carry out trade negotiations with dozens of countries following Trump’s announcements of new tariffs. 

“Suggesting that a foreign government adopt Starlink in exchange for relief on tariffs appears to be a textbook case of corruption,” the letter reads. 

The lawmakers specifically pointed to Lesotho granting Starlink a license to operate a satellite network soon after Trump’s tariff announcement as well as recent deals between the satellite company and Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Vietnam and India, which administration officials have said for weeks is close to securing a trade deal with the U.S. 

The senators also pointed to a recent story in The Washington Post regarding U.S. embassies and the State Department reportedly seeking to clear hurdles for American satellite companies and Starlink in particular. 

“These reports indicate that Mr. Musk may be using his official role and his proximity to the President as leverage for his own personal financial benefit — even if it comes at the expense of American consumers and the nation’s foreign policy interests,” the Democrats’ letter reads. 

In a statement, White House principal deputy press secretary Harrison Fields said it is "completely false" to say that Elon Musk has anything to do with Starlink deals. 

"This is just more fake news from media outlets determined to invent conflicts of interest that don’t exist," the statement said. "For the umpteenth time, President Trump will not tolerate any conflicts of interest, and every administration official is following ethical guidelines set by their respective agencies.”

Musk, who, in addition to SpaceX, owns X and Tesla, has become a close adviser to Trump since his return to the White House, informally leading the administration’s wide-scale government downsizing effort through the U.S. DOGE Service and holding the title of special government employee. The work of DOGE dominated the first few months of Trump’s second presidency, even leading Musk to attend Cabinet meetings to give updates on it alongside the president’s department secretaries. 

For his own part, when asked about Musk's presence at the White House, Trump has repeatedly said he "won't let him get near" anything that would be a conflict of interest. 

Musk appears to have taken a step back from government work in recent weeks after saying on a Tesla earnings call last month that he was set to scale back to spending just a day or two a week on government matters. 

But this week, Musk was featured prominently on Trump’s first major international trip to the Middle East, where the president is inking deals for the U.S. with the energy-rich nations of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. And on Tuesday in Riyadh, Musk announced he had secured his own deal for Starlink with Saudi Arabia 

Musk has been listed at events as the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX rather than an administration official, signaling his presence is in a business capacity. Several other major U.S. and foreign CEOs have taken part in events over Trump’s time in the region. 

In the letter, meanwhile, the senators lay out specific actions they hope to see taken, asking the State Department inspector general to review behavior in tariff negotiations and the Justice Department as well as the White House’s designated agency ethics official to investigate whether Musk or other officials violated federal ethics laws.

Note: This article was updated with a statement from the White House.