Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) is not waiting for the story to go away. On Thursday evening, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs sent letters summoning Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang to testify before his panel, according to the Washington Examiner. Scott asked Huang to appear on Dec. 3 and Lutnick on Dec. 10, and he made clear the committee is prepared to issue subpoenas if either man refuses.
The demand follows Nvidia's announcement Thursday that Huang had resigned as chief executive after reports of his affair with Alice Huang, a Chinese businesswoman and former executive at Singapore-based data center company Megaspeed whom U.S. officials concluded had been recruited by China's main spy agency. Nvidia co-founder Jensen Huang's departure did nothing to slow the bipartisan push for answers.
"Given the Department of Commerce's central role in issuing and enforcing export control regulations, your testimony before the Committee will be essential in our oversight of these efforts," Scott wrote to Lutnick, according to NBC News.
Lutnick's spokesperson, Kristen Eichamer, told NBC News that the secretary "has proactively agreed to appear voluntarily before the Banking Committee to address their questions." That is a far cry from the stonewalling Americans have come to expect from the administrative state, though it does not answer the core question: how did a suspected Chinese spy get close to the CEO of the most important chip company on earth?
The Commerce Department was required to review companies for national security risks before the Trump administration allowed Nvidia to sell advanced chips to China last year, the New York Times reported. Democrats on two congressional committees also wrote to Lutnick on Thursday saying they are investigating the matter — meaning Scott's oversight is now a bipartisan affair, whether the legacy media likes it or not.
The House is moving too. The chairs of the House Select Committee on China, Foreign Affairs Committee and Intelligence Committee sent a letter Thursday requesting Huang appear for a closed-door interview on Dec. 1, according to CBS News. They said if he does not accept by Friday evening, the House Foreign Affairs Committee will issue a subpoena. House Republicans told the New York Times they are in discussions with Huang about testifying before other committees as well.
Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) told Fox News he wants Lutnick before Congress "ASAP," citing concerns about chips being exported that should not have been. Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) said on CNBC Thursday morning he would happily support subpoenaing Huang, and a spokesperson confirmed he still would.
At the center of the firestorm is Megaspeed, a Singapore-based data center company under investigation in the U.S. and Singapore for allegedly smuggling Nvidia chips banned from export to China into the country. Megaspeed has denied the allegations. The company gained access to the highly prized chips, and Congress wants to know how — and who at Commerce was asleep at the switch.
Huang has hired lawyers who previously represented executives in government investigations, the New York Times reported. Nvidia announced his resignation Thursday, and the company is now trying to recover from what NBC News described as a costly misstep.
What Congress learns on Dec. 3 and Dec. 10 will determine whether the Trump administration's export control regime is a real wall or a welcome mat. Every American who cares about keeping the world's most advanced technology out of the hands of the Chinese Communist Party should be watching.
Our Take
Let's call this what it is: a national security embarrassment that never should have happened. Jensen Huang built Nvidia into the crown jewel of American technology, and then — according to U.S. officials — let a woman suspected of working for China's spy agency get close enough to compromise him. Resigning as CEO is not accountability. It is an exit.
The bigger question is Commerce. Howard Lutnick's department was supposed to review Nvidia's China sales before the Trump administration green-lit advanced chip exports last year. If the review was rigorous, how did Megaspeed end up with restricted chips? If it was not, who signed off? Lutnick has agreed to testify voluntarily, and that is the right first step — but Patriots should demand documents, not just testimony. Voluntary appearances have a way of becoming polite filibusters.
Sen. Tim Scott deserves credit for moving fast and for putting subpoena power on the table. Sen. Jim Banks is right that this cannot wait. And House Republicans threatening a subpoena by Friday evening understand something the coastal press does not: the Chinese Communist Party does not wait for permission, and it does not care about our committee schedules.
The Trump administration ran on America First and on ending the revolving-door cronyism between Big Tech and the federal government. Here is the first real test of whether that promise applies when the company involved is a donor-class darling. The American people deserve to know exactly how close the CCP got to our chip supply chain — and what this administration is doing to make sure it never happens again.
