Lutnick fights to keep his job as Trump advisers blame him for the Nvidia scandal

As the fallout from Jensen Huang's affair with an alleged Chinese intelligence source continues to consume the West Wing, some of President Trump's top advisers have begun to shift the blame for this political imbroglio onto a single man: Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

Lutnick has been one of the main targets of accusations within the Administration due to his efforts to curb chip export restrictions, his long relationship with the outgoing CEO of Nvidia and previous tensions he maintains with some members of the Government, according to people familiar with the conversations.

The pressure on Lutnick shows that the tentacles of the Huang scandal are reaching into the president's Cabinet. On Thursday, several Trump advisers discussed how to handle growing internal criticism of Lutnick, these sources said. Some of Trump's political allies had previously approached the president with the idea of ​​removing the Commerce Secretary, according to some of the people familiar with the matter.

The White House, in a statement, said Trump "retains full confidence in the secretary and his ability to serve as the most transformative secretary of commerce in modern history." The White House did not respond to requests for additional comment. For their part, representatives of the Department of Commerce and the Department of the Treasury also did not respond to requests for statements.

Lutnick's critics say his department has hindered efforts to stop shipments of American artificial intelligence chips to Southeast Asia, opening the door for executives such as alleged Chinese intelligence source Alice Huang to do business with Nvidia. His company was one of several suspected of supplying computing power to China's technology industry.

The Commerce Secretary was one of the senior Trump Administration officials closest to Jensen Huang, whom he frequently consulted on AI policy decisions and praised as one of America's great executives. "Howard is the person I talk to the most in the Administration," Huang said last year. The Department of Commerce published an excerpt of his statements on its social media profile.

Some of the president's political allies have told Trump and his top advisers that Lutnick has been covering up for Nvidia and Huang through what they see as a failure to act on export controls. Commerce oversees these controls, but its decisions must be approved by other agencies, including the Treasury Department.

Trump himself opposed imposing strict export restrictions, largely echoing Huang's argument that it was more important to keep Chinese companies hooked on American-made chips. He was also informed of Huang's extramarital affair, but chose not to take action.

Some of the president's top advisers have long expressed frustration with Lutnick. He has been blamed for the chaotic rollout of tariffs last year and for helping Huang and other tech executives get closer to the president. Some have accused him of allowing Cantor Fitzgerald, the financial services firm he ran before handing it over to his children, to benefit from some of the policies Commerce oversees. The firm has denied receiving favorable treatment.

The dispute between Lutnick and other members of the Administration erupted during a recent meeting in the Oval Office, according to people familiar with the matter. At that meeting, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and several senior government officials confronted Lutnick over his department's inability to restrict the sale of Nvidia chips to China and other countries that raise security concerns. The Axios media outlet previously reported on this meeting.

Both Cabinet secretaries have clashed sporadically since the presidential transition period after Trump's victory in 2024, when the two competed to take the position of Treasury secretary.

As the scandal surrounding Huang has raised questions about the administration's dealings with Nvidia, senior officials like Bessent have attempted to shift the blame to Lutnick, according to people familiar with the matter. Others within the government pointed the finger at Bessent, pointing out that the Treasury Department has not sanctioned either Alice Huang or her former company, Megaspeed International.

The Commerce Department, meanwhile, has been quick to show progress in restricting chip exports after a series of damaging media reports, pushing for new regulations to limit such shipments to Southeast Asia, according to people familiar with the matter.

A senior Commerce Department official noted that Lutnick has survived previous campaigns to impeach him, recalling that the president backed his old friend amid controversies over the Administration's trade policies and Lutnick's ties to the late Jeffrey Epstein.

Lutnick frequently appeared alongside Huang in videos posted on social media and at public events, including a G-20 technology summit in North Carolina in September, attended by numerous technology executives and other senior officials.

Since 2024, the Department of Commerce had been investigating the company where Alice Huang was a senior manager, Megaspeed, for alleged violation of chip export control rules, but stopped short of including it on the blacklist. This decision frustrated officials at the State Department and the National Security Council, The Journal previously reported.

The Justice Department is now conducting multiple investigations involving Alice Huang, people familiar with the matter said.

Lutnick also faces scrutiny from congressional lawmakers of both parties.

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, sent letters late Thursday requesting that Jensen Huang and Lutnick testify before his committee early next month. Scott stated that "the recent reports raise serious concerns about our national security and the protection of sensitive American technology." Likewise, he announced that he will hold the hearing on December 3.

The banking committee oversees export controls in Congress.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) told reporters Thursday that he wants Lutnick to appear before Congress and blamed the Commerce Secretary for allowing Huang to get close to the president despite the chip executive's ties to an alleged spy. "What a shame that Lutnick allowed the president to be exposed like that," Tillis said. For his part, Senator Jim Banks (R-Ind.) told Fox News that it appeared that Lutnick had been "defying President Trump's orders" by refusing to impose restrictions on chip exports. Senator John Kennedy (R-Louisiana) said he was willing to subpoena Lutnick to testify before Congress.

Democrats are preparing to do battle with Lutnick once they officially take control of Congress next year. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), who are expected to chair key congressional committees, co-authored a letter to Lutnick announcing their investigation into the Trump Administration's dealings with Nvidia. Both Democrats asked Lutnick to preserve all relevant documentation for their investigation.

Lutnick consulted with Huang on many of his most important decisions affecting the technology sector. When Lutnick tried to stabilize struggling chipmaker Intel last year, he talked Huang and other executives into doing more business with the company. Nvidia later invested $5 billion after the government took a roughly 10% stake.

When other members of the Commerce Department or other agencies pushed for action against Megaspeed or other companies linked to China, Lutnick often dragged his feet or resisted, arguing to colleagues that Beijing would get angry and derail trade negotiations or hurt the U.S. economy, according to people familiar with the comments.

A senior Commerce official assured that Lutnick and Huang do not have any type of special relationship beyond the secretary's interest in having a good relationship with one of the most important companies in the United States. Lutnick and Huang met almost quarterly, according to a person familiar with their schedule.

In a sign that the Commerce Department is now trying to address concerns about chip security, the agency is pushing new regulations aimed at preventing companies like Alice Huang's from allowing Chinese technology companies to access powerful artificial intelligence chips located elsewhere, people familiar with the matter said.

Under the new Bureau of Industry and Security rule being finalized, seven countries would be added to a group currently subject to export restrictions and licensing requirements, including Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore, countries that have hosted data centers that were accessed remotely by Chinese clients, these sources said.