U.S. President Donald Trump defended Elon Musk on Friday when reporters asked about Musk’s role in speed restrictions on SpaceX satellite internet service used by Ukrainian forces, saying the billionaire “will never do anything wrong.”
Trump made the remarks to reporters on the South Lawn of the White House on Oct. 23 before leaving for Florida, according to White House video of the exchange, which C-SPAN also aired shortly before 11 a.m. EDT.
Asked whether Musk has personal power and influence in the war between Russia and Ukraine, Trump said, “I don’t think he does,” Reuters reported.
“First of all, he’s a very good person. He’s not going to do anything wrong. He’s a very brilliant person,” Trump said, adding a reference to Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite internet service.
“Elon will never do anything wrong. I know him very well. He’s a fair person,” Trump said. He called it “an unusual situation” in which the parties were dealing with a private company, and added, “But he’s not going to do anything that’s wrong.”
Trump said he had been told the issue was resolved. “I have not spoken to him. I might have to, but I have not. I’ve heard it was fixed, but if it’s not, I’ll speak to him,” he said, according to Reuters. “If there is a problem, I’ll get it straightened out.”
Asked about reports that the restrictions were still in place, Trump said he had not heard that and would look into it. Asked who had ordered the restrictions, he said, “I wouldn’t tell you if I did know,” according to an Associated Press report published by PBS News.
Reuters has reported that speed caps affecting Ukrainian use of Starlink and Starshield, the military-grade version of the service, have been in place since Oct. 13. The Associated Press reported that the restrictions have limited the speed of Ukrainian drones, which have been unable to intercept Russia’s jet-powered drones.
A day earlier, on Oct. 22, Trump declined to say whether he had called Musk to ask him to restore service for Ukraine, telling reporters at the White House, “I guess the bottom line, he put it back,” according to White House video of that exchange.
Later on Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the Hudson Institute in a remote address that the limits had not been lifted. “The speed limits on Starlink and Starshield are still there. The speed has not been restored,” Zelenskyy said in a post on X quoting the address. He said things had “become harder – partly because of the Starlink and Starshield policies and speed limits,” but that Ukraine’s front line was holding.
Zelenskyy did not refer to Trump’s remarks about Musk in that post. Minutes later, Musk wrote in a separate post that in Ukraine “there is a massive incentive difference between the elites and the people,” without mentioning Starlink or Trump’s comments.
Trump’s description of Musk as someone who “will never do anything wrong” is his own assessment. Trump said he had heard the problem “was fixed,” while Zelenskyy said the same day that the speed limits remained, and neither Trump nor the White House said who had ordered the restrictions. Musk had not publicly responded to Trump’s remarks on X as of early Saturday, and Ukraine’s government had not responded directly to Trump’s comments about Musk.