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Trump’s Desperate Denial Blown Up by Staggering Revelations

The president claimed to have had nothing do with restrictions on Ukraine’s frontline technology.

Donald Trump’s claims that he had no knowledge of efforts to limit access to systems vital for Ukraine’s frontline defense have been blown apart by his own officials.

Ukrainian forces suffered sustained restrictions last week on their usage of Starshield, a military-grade version of the Starlink satellite network maintained by Elon Musk’s SpaceX that the country uses to defend itself from Russia’s invasion.

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“Well, I don’t know if it was anybody, because it wasn’t me, and I don’t think it was Elon,” the president, 80, told reporters on Friday in response to reports that coverage was throttled on White House orders.

“From what I understand, it’s the same as it’s always been,” he added.

Several sources within the administration flatly contradicted that take on Wednesday in comments to the Wall Street Journal.

One person familiar with the situation told the newspaper that Musk, 55, spoke with Trump and other senior administration members before imposing limits on Starshield systems in Ukraine, which are used to coordinate drone operations.

Some officials contended that Musk “acted unilaterally” in throttling coverage, while others said the billionaire discussed the move with Trump on a call after news of the slowdown broke.

The SpaceX CEO later wrote on X that the network used in Ukraine is “owned and controlled by the U.S. government,” and that “any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS”—meaning Trump.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, 48, said the outage, as well as problems with U.S.-provided advance missile warnings, has cost civilian lives but has declined to provide concrete figures so far.

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Russia’s bombardment of Ukraine has continued at pace since the Starshield slowdown was first reported last week. Moscow’s attacks have killed around 66 people, injured roughly 452 more, and left well over a million without power during that period.

U.S. relations with Ukraine have plummeted to their lowest point since Trump and Vice President JD Vance ambushed Zelensky in the Oval Office last February and accused him of not being “grateful” enough for American support since Vladimir Putin’s February 2022 invasion.

Things began to rapidly deteriorate after Trump announced a shock deal with Putin earlier this month to buy around 2 million tons of Russian diesel.

The move forms part of a frantic White House attempt to lower fuel costs driven by Trump’s deeply unpopular war on Iran and its impact on domestic prices, which have helped Democrats secure a 9-point lead ahead of the Nov. 3 midterms.

The Starshield restrictions come after a months-long campaign by Ukraine using attack drones against Russian energy infrastructure to cut off revenue for Putin’s war machine.

Zelensky initially agreed to an “energy ceasefire” that Trump unilaterally announced on Truth Social after securing the diesel deal, apparently without first clearing the stay in hostilities with either Moscow or Kyiv.

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But Zelensky dramatically reversed course last week in the face of continued Russian attacks on Ukrainian power plants and other facilities, despite White House threats that Ukrainian forces would lose access to intelligence sharing if it violated the supposed agreement.

The Ukrainian president blasted Trump directly in comments to the Financial Times last week, accusing the president of capitulating to Putin out of admiration for the dictator.

“He speaks about it openly and loudly that he loves such people and he respects such people,” Zelensky said. “Because for him people who can be leaders 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, it means they can be very strong.”

Trump immediately hit back in an interview that night with Newsmax, further questioning the Ukrainian leader’s legitimacy after calling for his ouster the previous weekend.

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“Zelensky’s not a good guy for us to deal with,” he said. “No, I’m not a big fan of Zelensky. He destroyed that country,” the president went on, referring to Ukraine.

“Putin hates Zelensky, and Zelensky hates Putin,” he went on. “It should end soon. I think they both would actually like to see it end. But I find Zelensky more difficult to deal with than Putin.”

The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and Musk’s representatives for comment on this story.

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