D.C. Memo: Trump – Musk’s Starlink ‘Saved A Lot of Lives’ in North Carolina
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Musk: President Trump held an Oval Office press briefing Friday afternoon to thank SpaceX CEO Elon Musk for his government service guiding the budget-cutting effort by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). With Musk’s 130-day tenure as a “special government employee” ending, Trump marked the occasion by presenting Musk with a gold key to the White House. Asked to describe his relationship with Musk, who was sporting a black eye, Trump told a crowd of reporters how he reached out to him to see if he could deliver Starlink terminals to devastated western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene struck in September 2024 and killed more than 200 people. “He's got so many different companies. Starlink, as an example. He saved a lot of lives, probably hundreds of lives in North Carolina,” Trump said. Musk, Trump said, rushed terminals to areas where wind, rain, and flooding had leveled homes, roads, and communications networks. Even Charter Communications used Starlink in the area, CEO Christopher Winfrey has said. Trump said he got a call from someone in North Carolina. “They needed Starlink in North Carolina. And I didn't know what the hell Starlink was. I said, ‘What is it? Who owns it?’ He said, ‘Do you know Elon Musk?’ I said, "Yeah, I happen to know the gentleman. This was before his government stay. And they said, ‘We really need it,’ because North Carolina was – it literally became an island.” (More after paywall — including former Rep. Dean Phillips’ (D-Minn.) calling for Starlink over fiber.)
