Follow-Up: Rep. Mike Turner Demands Congressional Investigation Into Ukraine Starlink Slowdown, Calls Rubio's Explanation 'Absolutely Not' Sufficient
WASHINGTON — Rep. Mike Turner, a Republican member of the House Armed Services Committee, said on CBS's "Face the Nation" on Sunday that Secretary of State Marco Rubio's explanation for the slowdown of Ukraine's satellite network was "absolutely not" sufficient and that Congress should open an investigation.
Before departing on a trip Saturday evening, Rubio said nobody ordered Starlink speeds to be slowed down, that "it sort of happened," and that his understanding was that service had been restored. Asked by host Margaret Brennan whether that explanation was sufficient, Turner replied: "Absolutely not. I mean, this is something where there needs to be an investigation. There needs to be a congressional investigation."
Turner said weapons, funding and intelligence for Ukraine had broken down in similar ways before, only for it to emerge later that unnamed people at the Pentagon were responsible. "We need to find out who these people are because lives are at risk and lives are lost over these things," he said. According to the Institute for the Study of War and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, satellite service in Ukraine remains spotty, restored in some areas and not in others. Sen. Kevin Cramer also called on Sunday for a congressional investigation to determine whether the disruption was a deliberate decision or a technical glitch.
Earlier this week, a source familiar with the matter said the order restricting Ukraine's military Starshield service came from inside the White House, while senior U.S. officials said the president never made such a request; Rubio denied at a pre-departure press conference that the White House ordered any slowdown. SpaceX founder Elon Musk has deferred to President Donald Trump on the restrictions, and Trump has denied that either he or Musk caused an outage. (GSM, based on CBS and other media reports)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 众议员 Mike Turner 官方肖像（美国众议院官方照片，公共领域）。Official portrait of Rep. Mike Turner. U.S. House Office of Photography, public domain.
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- 2026-10-18Follow-Up: Rep. Mike Turner Demands Congressional Investigation Into Ukraine Starlink Slowdown, Calls Rubio's Explanation 'Absolutely Not' SufficientThis story
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