Schiff called for Elon Musk and senior administration officials, like Pete Hegseth, to appear under oath regarding slowdowns of Starshield in Ukraine: “Somebody is lying here…we should find out.”
October 26, 2026 - WashingtOn , D.C. — On Sunday, U.S. Senator Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) joined NBC’s Meet 
the Press with Kristen Welker nine days before the 2026 midterms to highlight the biggest issues on the ballot and preview the Democratic agenda in the new Congress focused on cost of living and investigating corruption that has driven up prices for American families.
Schiff, a former Department of Justice lawyer and a member of the Senate Democrats’ Election Protection Task Force, also lambasted Attorney General Todd Blanche for his complicity in helping President Donald Trump lay the groundwork to meddle in the outcome of Alaska’s upcoming Senate election – calling the DOJ’s lawsuit a “disgraceful campaign” that has “no chance of succeeding.”
The Senator also called for Elon Musk and senior administration officials to appear under oath as part of a Congressional investigation into the throttling of Starshield networks in Ukraine, which rely on SpaceX’s Starlink satellite system to defend civilians against Russian drones and missiles. On Friday, Schiff and other lawmakers demanded SpaceX provide answers on the slowdown of Starshield access prior to Russian strikes that killed or wounded dozens of Ukrainians.
View the full interview here.
Key Excerpts:
On the dominant issue in the November 3 election:
“I do believe we can flip both houses, and for the reason that the main issue facing Americans is that their cost of living has gone up so dramatically, and a lot of it is due to the corruption that pervades this administration. An administration that is looking out for itself, making money hand over fist for the president for his family, while leaving regular families to struggle, and that is the dominant issue, and I think voters are going to turn out because their lives have not been made better by this president, and they’re going to vote accordingly.
On the Democratic agenda in the 120th Congress:
[…] We should do exactly what we are campaigning on, and that is: focus singularly on how do we bring the cost of life, the cost of food and medicine and rent and more.
That should be the focus of our positive legislative agenda, ending things like the tariff wars, the Iran war, and other things that are just driving costs higher. But also it should be the focus of our oversight to look into the rampant corruption, because the cost of that corruption is higher prices for the American people. If the administration is approving mergers that reduce competition and raise costs for consumers – not because it’s in the country’s interest, but because someone’s making a buck. companies are paying the president’s family, or they’re paying to have their name on a ballroom – then the American people need to know, and what’s more, it’s going to be important to find out to bring costs down.
On the DOJ’s lawsuit in Alaska’s Senate election:
[…] They don’t have standing to bring this kind of a suit. It’s not the federal government’s business to run Alaskan elections, it’s Alaska’s business to do that.
[…] Back in 2020, when the president was likewise trying to challenge an election he lost, he tried to enlist the support of the Justice Department. He told top DOJ lawyers, ‘Just say the election was corrupt, and leave the rest to the Republican congressmen and to him.’ Well, they refused. … This time with Blanche, they’re all in on this disgraceful campaign. So, this suit has no chance of succeeding. But the fact that Todd Blanche and the Justice Department are willing to go along with it, they’re willing to put their name on it, is an indication of how far they will go after this election is over to try to challenge the results.
On the need to investigate Elon Musk’s involvement in the slowdown of Starshield in Ukraine:
Absolutely, the Defense Secretary Hegseth should be brought in.
[…] 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. Somebody is lying here. Maybe they’re all lying in different ways. But we need to find out.
Certainly, the world’s richest person shouldn’t be controlling our national security interests. That is a spectacular threat to our national security. If it is true, we should find out.
Something isn’t adding up here. I saw Elon Musk today tweet that they’re just preventing Ukraine from violating their policies. Something changed within the last week. What was it that changed? Why did it change? What impact is it having on Ukraine’s ability to defend itself? Is this in our national security interest? These are the questions we should ask, which frankly Republicans have been unwilling to ask.
Source: Senator Adam Schiff
