NEWS: Congressmen Greg Casar, Gabe Amo, Senator Murphy Lead Call For Acting Inspector General Review of Elon Musk’s Starlink Push in Countries Facing Tariffs

WASHINGTON – Today, Congressman Greg Casar (D-Texas) led a letter alongside Congressman Gabe Amo (D-Rhode Island), Senator Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut), and 30 other members of Congress calling on the Acting Inspector General for the Department of State to review potential corruption illegally benefiting Elon Musk in the State Department’s handling of trade deal negotiations.

Earlier this month, The Washington Post published a report indicating the State Department is pushing countries facing tariffs to do business with Elon Musk’s company Starlink.

The Washington Post’s report is based on leaked internal State Department information indicating that United States embassies and the State Department, while in trade talks, pushed nations to make regulatory changes to allow Starlink to operate in their countries. 

The letter states that “the possibility that Musk or other Trump Administration officials are financially benefitting from trade negotiations raises serious concerns about whether these trade deals will be negotiated to benefit all Americans and in alignment with our country’s strategic interests or to benefit Trump, Musk, or other elites.” 

The letter asks that the acting inspector general refer the case to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation if he finds that Musk used his influence to pressure the State Department to advocate for Starlink in trade deal negotiations. 

The letter was led by Congressman Greg Casar (TX-35), Congressman Gabe Amo (RI-01), and Senator Chris Murphy (CT) and signed by Senators Richard Blumenthal (CT), Jeff Merkley (OR), Adam Schiff (CA). It is also signed by U.S. Representatives Yassamin Ansari (AZ-03), Becca Balint (VT-AL), Nanette Barragán (CA-44), Yvette Clarke (NY-09), Rosa DeLauro (CT-03), Chris Deluzio (PA-17), Lloyd Doggett (TX-37), Cleo Fields (LA-06), Maxwell Alejandro Frost (FL-10), John Garamendi (CA-08), Robert Garcia (CA-42), Dan Goldman (NY-10), Steven Horsford (NV-04), Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Jim McGovern (MA-02), Dave Min (CA-47), Seth Moulton (MA-06), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Delia C. Ramirez (IL-03), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Shri Thanedar (MI-13), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), Paul Tonko (NY-20), Nydia Velázquez (NY-07), Maxine Waters (CA-43), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12)

A copy of the letter is available here.

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Congressman Greg Casar represents Texas’s 35th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, which runs down I-35 from East Austin to Hays County to the West Side of San Antonio. A labor organizer and son of Mexican immigrants, Casar serves as the Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus for the 119th Congress. He also serves on the Committee on Education and Labor and the Committee on Oversight and