Nine days before the midterms, Sen. Adam Schiff used his Sunday appearance on NBC's Meet the Press to lay out what a Democratic Senate would do with its subpoena power — and the first name on his list was the secretary of defense. If Democrats retake the Senate, Schiff said, Pete Hegseth should be brought in to testify about the Starlink slowdown that disrupted Ukrainian military operations, along with anyone else who has knowledge of what happened.
The reason is that nobody's account of the slowdown matches anybody else's. The Wall Street Journal reported that Elon Musk ordered the restriction on Starshield, the military version of Starlink. Musk says SpaceX simply enforced its terms of service after Kyiv used the commercial network for offensive drone strikes. President Trump denies ordering any restriction. Hegseth told reporters the Pentagon had not pulled anything back. Zelenskyy, for his part, said Kyiv believed the instruction to limit speed came from the American government, with SpaceX carrying it out technically. Schiff's verdict on the pile of contradictions was blunt — somebody is lying — and he added the institutional point: it is a threat to national security when a private citizen can switch off capacity a military depends on in wartime. Ukraine said on Saturday that Starlink and Starshield speeds had returned to normal, after terminals lost connection at speed and drones were lost during the restriction.
Pressed by moderator Kristen Welker on impeachment, Schiff left the door open: a third impeachment of Trump remains possible if Democrats win Congress, though the party has made no commitment to pursue one. Schiff is not a neutral voice on the subject — he chaired the House Intelligence Committee through the first impeachment and served as a manager in the Senate trial — which is exactly why his refusal to rule it out matters. With control of both chambers to be decided on November 3, Schiff is telling voters what a Democratic majority would spend its first year doing: hearings first, with Hegseth in the witness chair and impeachment held in reserve.
Never miss a story.Join our Telegram channel and get every article link the second it is published.
Join Telegram Channel