While he may not be Senior Advisor to President Trump and the de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Elon Musk is still quite friendly with The White House.
After paying America to use Musk's Starlink system in the war with Russia, a speed restriction issue has meant Ukraine is unable to use the technology.
Elon Musk has said since that any decision regarding Starshield/Starlink were decisions to be made by the White House and the US military.
Discussing this topic on this week's episode of The Divided States of America with Pat Kenny is former Democratic Representative from New York Joe Crowley, who holds Musk responsible for the deaths of Ukrainian people.
He said: "The real obscene thing about Musk is that he gave nearly a half a billion dollars in his effort, failed, but still did it.
"But he also more egregiously, what he did in DOGE, what he did with shutting down the Starlink satellite, I think actually caused the death of people."
When Pat pointed out how this poses the bigger question of who is actually controlling the defence policy in America, be it Musk or someone else, and who made the call to put the Starlink speed restriction in place.
Mr Crowley continued: "We need to know. We need to know what happened there. Who knows at this point [who is in charge].
View this post on Instagram
"There's a lot of suspicion about how does any private citizen, just on their own, shut down a satellite system that's being used in war? That is something that has to be done, if it's going to be done, at the very top.
"And that has to be, at some point, made public as to how that happened and why did it happen, especially when I think the overwhelming majority of Americans are supportive of Ukraine in this aggressive war waged by Russia."
Tensions had been high between Presidents Zelenskyy and Trump since their meeting in Washington DC in early 2025.
Zelenskyy was also highly critical of Trump's recent deal for diesel with Russia, and the US President recently signed an executive order pausing a slew of restrictions targeting the Russian economy.
While attending the EPC summit in Dublin last week, senior US peace negotiators met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as discussions with Russia intensified.
Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that EU leaders reaffirmed their "support" for the people of Ukraine, but also that any future talks about Ukraine's destiny must include European voices.
You can catch up on all episodes of The Divided States of America now on the GoLoud app.
Main image: US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office with Elon Musk in February 2025. Pic: White House
