{"id":368490,"date":"2026-07-10T17:47:40","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T17:47:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/368490\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T17:47:40","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T17:47:40","slug":"democrat-running-for-texas-ag-claims-110m-in-grants-for-starlink-sure-looks-like-corruption-texas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/368490\/","title":{"rendered":"Democrat running for Texas AG claims $110m in grants for Starlink \u2018sure looks\u2019 like corruption | Texas"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Texas Democrat running to become the state\u2019s attorney general has said he will investigate Elon Musk<\/a>\u2019s SpaceX company if elected, saying it \u201csure looks like\u201d corruption was involved in a deal he said handed the world\u2019s richest man $110m of taxpayers\u2019 money.<\/p>\n

Nathan Johnson made the comment in an interview<\/a> with the Dallas News on Friday, in which he called for greater legislative scrutiny of state grants funneled to SpaceX<\/a> for its Starlink<\/a> satellite program, which provides fast internet access for customers in remote areas.<\/p>\n

Johnson, who won the Democratic primary<\/a> runoff for attorney general in May, said the award by Texas Republicans of 99% of the available grant funds to a company led by billionaire Musk, a Donald Trump ally, was lopsided.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am not declaring that corruption was at work in this instance. I am saying that it sure looks like it,\u201d Johnson, a state senator, told the Dallas News. \u201cPublic confidence in the bidding process has been undermined.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his primary campaign, Johnson promised to overhaul the office of the Texas attorney general, a position currently held by Ken Paxton, the scandal-ridden hardline Republican recently nominated<\/a> by his party to run for the US Senate in November\u2019s midterms.<\/p>\n

He has said he will work closely with the state comptroller to audit how government contracts are awarded.<\/p>\n

The Starlink grants, signed off by the Republican Texas governor, Greg Abbott<\/a>, after his office reportedly revised rules to favor low-Earth-orbit satellite providers in bids to provide rural internet access, have become a particular source of controversy.<\/p>\n

Records show<\/a> Musk has made previous monetary donations to Abbott, among many others, but there is no suggestion it is linked to the grants.<\/p>\n

Johnson questioned members of the Texas broadband development office (BDO) at a hearing of the state senate\u2019s business and commerce committee in June, at which they conceded<\/a> changes to the grant-awarding process came at Abbott\u2019s behest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe office of the governor asked us to look at how our proposed structure compared to other states,\u201d Bryant Clayton, director of the BDO, said, according to KUT News<\/a>. \u201cGenerally \u2026 we were out of step with other nearby states.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eight companies offering ground-based fiber broadband complained in a letter they appeared to have been cut out of the revised grant application process, a development the committee\u2019s chair, Republican Charles Schwertner, seemed to acknowledge.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll just say it bluntly. Favoritism and transparency are real big concerns that have been brought to my office,\u201d he told the hearing.<\/p>\n

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In his interview with the Dallas News, Johnson said the Starlink broadband awards should face additional legislative scrutiny, and promised to look closer at the state\u2019s dealings with SpaceX<\/a> \u2013 headquartered in Starbase, Texas \u2013 if he wins in November.<\/p>\n

He has touted an anti-corruption policy plan on the campaign trail, and his assertion that he will launch inquiries into grants effectively puts an investigation into Musk on the ballot, NBC News said<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe AG is supposed to ensure that government serves the public good over private interests, not the other way around,\u201d Johnson said on X<\/a> in June, linking to a speech attacking Mayes Middleton<\/a>, his Republican opponent in November who has declared himself a Trump loyalist.<\/p>\n

Abbott, meanwhile, has defended the grants, saying they were ultimately directed to SpaceX, which dominates the lower-Earth-orbit internet satellite industry, because ground-based broadband solutions were costly and problematic.<\/p>\n

\u201cGovernor Abbott supports getting high-speed internet to rural Texans as quickly and cost-effectively as possible,\u201d Andrew Mahaleris, his press secretary, told KUT News in a statement. \u201cLow Earth orbit satellite service is essential for the most remote areas where traditional fiber is too expensive and slow to build.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Guardian has contacted SpaceX and Abbott\u2019s office. The Dallas News said neither responded to its requests for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Texas Democrat running to become the state\u2019s attorney general has said he will investigate Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":368491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-368490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}