Sen. Adam Schiff says Pete Hegseth should testify on Starlink slowdown in Ukraine

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Cite

Brand, M. (2026, October 25). Sen. Adam Schiff says Pete Hegseth should testify on Starlink slowdown in Ukraine. NBC News. https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/adam-schiff-pete-hegseth-testify-starlink-slowdown-ukraine-war-rcna605508

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NBC News · collected 2026-10-25 · by Megan Brand

Quick Summary

Senator Adam Schiff suggested on NBC’s "Meet the Press" that Pete Hegseth, Defense Secretary under former President Trump, should testify before the Senate regarding the Starlink satellite service limitations affecting Ukrainian military operations. This comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed the U.S. government ordered SpaceX to restrict Starlink speed, and amid conflicting statements from Musk and Trump about who was responsible for the restrictions. Schiff emphasized the need for clarity on these issues as they pertain to national security interests.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-25, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Sen. Adam Schiff called for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to testify before the Senate regarding the recent slowdown of Starlink satellite services in Ukraine, which disrupted Ukrainian military operations. This call came during an interview on NBC’s "Meet the Press" after 2026-10-25, amid rising tensions between the U.S. and Ukraine over who ordered the service restrictions. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had previously stated that the decision to limit Starlink likely came from the U.S. government, and not directly from SpaceX. The Wall Street Journal reported that former President Trump had called Elon Musk to ask him to lift these restrictions. Ukraine reported on Saturday that both Starlink and its military network, Starshield, were operating at high speeds again after being disrupted earlier in the week, which hindered their ability to intercept incoming Russian attacks. Schiff argued that “the world’s richest person shouldn’t be controlling our national security interests,” referring to Musk's control over critical satellite services.

Written for “Pete Hegseth To Testify On Starlink” on 2026-10-25, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it -0.50, but none of the 5 quote(s) it offered could be found in the article text, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score withheld for article 105904: no verified evidence · logged 2026-10-25

Story

📰 Pete Hegseth To Testify On Starlink
Politics · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 4% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
The Hindu
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 9% hedged 1 of 11 📰 publisher trust 77
“The articles describe different stages of a related situation: Article A reports on Musk's order to reduce Starshield services for Ukraine, while Article B discusses calls for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to testify about the same incident.”
The Straits Times
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 8% hedged 2 of 24 📰 publisher trust 68
“The articles discuss different aspects of the Starlink access issue in Ukraine, with Rubio commenting on Musk's decision-making authority and Schiff discussing potential testimony regarding the incident.”
Daily Mail
⚖️ Leans right 🔴 6% hedged 1 of 17 📰 publisher trust 64
“Article A describes Elon Musk reducing Starlink services for Ukraine, while Article B discusses Senator Adam Schiff's call for Pete Hegseth to testify about the Starlink slowdown. These are different events occurring at distinct times.”
The Straits Times
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 17% hedged 1 of 6 📰 publisher trust 68
“The articles describe different events, one involving Trump's request to Musk and another regarding Sen. Schiff's call for testimony on Starlink restrictions.”
CBS News
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 2 📰 publisher trust 66
“The articles discuss different aspects of the issue related to Ukraine's SpaceX satellite access but do not describe the same specific incident or time.”
Al Jazeera
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 16% hedged 4 of 25 📰 publisher trust 60
“The articles refer to different aspects of the Starlink issue in Ukraine, with one mentioning Trump's comments about Musk restoring access and the other discussing Senator Schiff's call for testimony regarding previous limitations.”
October 22, 2026 different event · 95%
Letters from an American
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 15% hedged 7 of 46
“While both articles discuss the Starlink slowdown in Ukraine, Article A describes Trump's call to Musk about the issue, whereas Article B focuses on Sen. Adam Schiff's statement regarding testimony on the incident.”
The Straits Times
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 8% hedged 1 of 12 📰 publisher trust 68
“Article A discusses Ukraine's continued issues with Starshield access on Oct 23, while Article B is about Sen. Adam Schiff calling for testimony regarding Starlink limitations in Ukraine a few days later.”
Al Jazeera
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 5% hedged 1 of 19 📰 publisher trust 60
“The articles discuss different aspects of the Starlink issue in Ukraine, with one focusing on Ukraine's plan for an independent satellite system and complaints about Starshield issues, while the other is about a U.S. senator advocating for testimony regarding the same Starlink limitations.”
The Guardian
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 21% hedged 4 of 19 📰 publisher trust 66
“While both articles discuss issues with Starlink in Ukraine, Article A focuses on ongoing disruptions and blames shifting between Trump and Musk, while Article B is about Senator Schiff calling for Defense Secretary Hegseth to testify regarding the same issue. These are different specific events.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
26
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
4%
1 of 26 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Publisher signals
95/100
NBC News's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-25 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

NBC News · 1719 article(s) · 0 correction(s) detected
No corrections detected for this publisher. That may mean careful reporting, or simply that nothing has been checked.

Who wrote this

Megan Brand
10 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 Maybe they’re all lying in different ways, but we need to find out.” The disruptions to Starlink, which is run by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, led to rising tensions with the U.S. amid questions about who may have ordered the slowdown of the satellite services.
🔮 Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday that President Donald Trump’s decision to ease sanctions on Russia to allow it to release diesel fuel to the global market may be breaking the law.
🔮 California officials denounced President Donald Trump for saying at a campaign rally in Nebraska on Monday that Iran could “take out” Los Angeles or San Diego, calling his remarks “deranged” and “irresponsible.”
🔮 Describing how national issues are affecting local politics, she said, “Some Democrats will not accept an idea if it’s a Republican that’s proposing it, even if it’s fundamentally a Democrat idea that they’re trying to push, and then that’s where the division starts.”
🔮 “My plans right now are to run for re-election, but as I’ve said before, if I don’t think I can be effective in the Senate anymore, I would consider it,” he said.
🔮 President Donald Trump said in a Sunday Truth Social post that he would convert plans for the D.C.-area “Triumphal Arch” to “a top grade Military Complex/Triumphal Arch” at the request of the U.S. military for national security purposes.
🔮 At the time of the program’s announcement, then-White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that if federal workers “don’t want to work in the office and contribute to making America great again, then they are free to choose a different line of work, and the Trump Administration will provide a very generous payout of 8 months.” During Trump’s second term, the federal workforce has lost more than 271,000 employees as of July, according to data published by OPM.
🔮 Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that President Donald Trump has “undoubtedly” committed impeachable offenses but that Democrats would also focus on issues like healthcare if they win back the House.
🔮 “Harriet has ALWAYS delivered for Wyoming, and will continue to do so in the United States Senate.”
Also by Megan Brand
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 10 articles by Megan Brand →

Topics

Defense Senate Starlink Ukraine Ukrainian

Subjects

Starlink ORG · 7× Ukraine GPE · 7× Musk PERSON · 5× Schiff PERSON · 5× Ukrainian NORP · 3× Defense ORG · 2× Senate ORG · 2× SpaceX ORG · 2× Trump PERSON · 2× U.S. GPE · 2×

Narrative

He said the “loophole was closed” and said that the company “simply enforced our terms of service when they were bypassed.” Musk previously said that limits on “speed or usage” of Starshield are “decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS.” Schiff said on Sunday that “the world’s richest person shouldn’t be controlling our national security interests.”
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-25
🔮 Maybe they’re all lying in different ways, but we need to find out.” The disruptions to Starlink, which is run by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, led to rising tensions with the U.S. amid questions about who may have ordered the slowdown of the satellite services.

Claims (26 extracted, 1 hedged)

Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth should testify before the Senate on the Starlink satellite limitations that disrupted Ukrainian military operations, if Democrats retake the Senate. asserted
Democrats → say → Senate
“Defense Secretary Hegseth should be brought in,” Schiff told “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker. asserted
Schiff → bring → Welker
“Anyone who has knowledge of what happened.” asserted
what → have → knowledge
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview on “Meet the Press” last week that the Ukrainian government believed the decision to limit Starlink came from the U.S. government. asserted
decision → say → government
Zelenskyy said at the time that “it was the message from American government to limit this speed, and technically SpaceX did it.” asserted
SpaceX → say → it
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Trump called Musk and asked him to lift his company’s satellite service restrictions. asserted
Trump → report → restrictions
Ukraine said on Saturday that Starlink and Starshield, its military network, were working at high speeds again. asserted
Starlink → say → speeds
Last week, the systems were disrupted, and Ukraine said the disruptions made it harder to intercept incoming Russian attacks. asserted
it → disrupt → attacks
“You’ve got the president saying one thing, you’ve got Elon Musk saying another thing, you have them both saying different things at different times,” Schiff said. asserted
Schiff → get → times
“Somebody is lying here. asserted
Somebody → lie → ?
Maybe they’re all lying in different ways, but we need to find out.” The disruptions to Starlink, which is run by Elon Musk’s SpaceX, led to rising tensions with the U.S. amid questions about who may have ordered the slowdown of the satellite services. uncertain
who → lie → services
Overnight, Musk accused Ukraine in posts to X of violating “Starlink terms of service” by using the system for offensive strikes. asserted
Musk → accuse → strikes
He said the “loophole was closed” and said that the company “simply enforced our terms of service when they were bypassed.” Musk previously said that limits on “speed or usage” of Starshield are “decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS.” Schiff said on Sunday that “the world’s richest person shouldn’t be controlling our national security interests.” asserted
person → say → interests
“That is a spectacular threat to our national security,” he said. asserted
he → say → security
“If it is true, we should find out.” asserted
we → find → ?
Schiff referenced Musk’s overnight posts about Starlink’s policies, saying on “Meet the Press” that “something changed within the last week.” asserted
something → reference → week
“What was it that changed?” Schiff said. asserted
Schiff → change → ?
“Why did it change? asserted
it → change → ?
What impact is it having on Ukraine’s ability to defend itself? asserted
it → have → itself
These are the questions we should ask, which frankly Republicans have been unwilling to ask.” asserted
Republicans → ask → which
On Thursday, President Donald Trump said Musk restored Starlink in Ukraine. asserted
Musk → say → Ukraine
One day later, though, Ukraine denied that the satellite system was working properly. asserted
system → deny → ?
The Trump administration had denied that it requested changes to Starlink’s operation in Ukraine. asserted
it → deny → Ukraine
“The reporting out there was that somehow the United States government was denying them something they needed in order to defend their country,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio said last week. asserted
Rubio → deny → State
“That’s not true. asserted
That → ’ → ?
That’s not accurate.” asserted
That → ’ → ?
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