Trump discusses setting up Starlink for NC with Elon Musk, White House says it's on the way

After Donald Trump said he asked Elon Musk to provide his Starlink satellite Internet service to areas of North Carolina devastated by Hurricane Helene, the White House said that more than 100 of the necessary systems were already in transit prior to the Republican presidential nominee’s announcement.

"I just spoke to Elon," Trump said Monday, per Reuters. "We want to get Starlink hooked up because they have no communication whatsoever and Elon will always come through."

The White House responded to Trump's remarks with a social media statement reading,  "This is already happening.”

That social media post linked to a Federal Emergency Management Agency press release that was also dated Monday,

Hurricane Helene has killed more than 100 people in six states and has cut off some areas of western North Carolina from communications and road access.

Starlink is a unit of Musk’s SpaceX company that controls much of world’s active satellites and it is the only high-bandwidth Internet system that covers the entire planet, according to Reuters.

The outlet also reported that Trump traveled to Valdosta, Georgia, to visit a furniture store that was damaged in the storm.