‘answer In Front Of God And Country’: Gop Turns On Lutnick Over Chips

The blast radius from Nvidia’s espionage scandal is now spreading to the Commerce Department, potentially setting up Secretary Howard Lutnick or other agency leaders to be the Trump administration’s scapegoats.

Recent reports that the Commerce Department failed to take action on Megaspeed, the Singapore-based firm at the center of the spying and chip-smuggling allegations, have intensified scrutiny of the agency’s decisions to allow more foreign chip sales, particularly of Nvidia’s advanced artificial intelligence chips. Over the past 24 hours, more than half a dozen Republicans have demanded answers — and potentially congressional testimony – from Lutnick and top deputies over whether they put private tech interests above national security.

“The obvious question is why did he choose to sell advanced chips?,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said in an interview Wednesday. “Secretary Lutnick needs to answer that in front of God and country. If I were he, I'd call a press conference this afternoon and explain what happened and why he agreed to sell 'em chips, and I would stop doing it."

“I mean, there will be a congressional investigation,” Kennedy added. “But I don't think he ought to wait on Congress.”

Kennedy and other prominent Republicans are calling for Lutnick to explain the agency’s lack of action to block Megaspeed from buying advanced chips, despite U.S. intelligence warnings that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was having an affair with a Megaspeed executive suspected of being a Chinese asset.   

It’s a sign of the Trump administration’s deep vulnerability on the issue, thanks to the president’s chummy relationship with Huang and deference to the Nvidia chief on tech policy. And it could force a new reckoning at the Commerce Department, whose chip export policies have been under fire from national security hawks in both parties for more than a year.

“I don’t think he’s been very responsive,” Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.) said of Lutnick in an interview Wednesday, calling on him to testify before Congress.

Huizenga said the Bureau of Industry and Security, the Commerce agency known as “BIS” that oversees blacklists of foreign companies barred from U.S. tech and other restrictions on sensitive exports, has also “been less responsive than they should be” to lawmakers’ requests for briefings on the issue, calling it “frustrating.”

A spokesperson for BIS defended its outreach to lawmakers and their staff.

"BIS has a strong relationship with Members of Congress from both parties on our committees of jurisdiction. And we engage with them frequently,” said BIS spokesperson Thomas Wackman. “The details of scheduling are best left to our respective office staff."

The New York Times reported earlier this week that Commerce Department officials handed off a probe into Megaspeed to the Justice Department after Nvidia’s general counsel requested information on the agency’s investigation.

The Times and Axios also reported that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confronted Lutnick about the agency’s failure to blacklist Megaspeed during a White House meeting last week. Such a move would prevent American firms from shipping sensitive products to the company without first obtaining a license.

And new reports emerged Wednesday afternoon that Huang had another affair with an Nvidia employee and that the board is considering removing him from his post.

Nvidia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), the outgoing chair of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, said in an interview Wednesday that he wants Commerce and other Trump administration officials to brief lawmakers on the recent reports regarding Lutnick.

“I'd say we want to get to the bottom of the matter and to really have transparency on this,” said the Michigan Republican, who wants the briefing to focus on the extent that both Chinese intelligence influenced Nvidia, and the chipmaker influenced U.S. national security policy priorities.

Moolenaar said he has not yet requested a formal briefing from the White House, nor would he commit to having Lutnick appear before lawmakers.

Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security is one of several parts of the administration currently negotiating with the Hill on three proposals to tighten chip restrictions lawmakers have proposed including in the annual defense authorization bill, according to two people close to the process, who were granted anonymity to share details of negotiations.

House Foreign Affairs Chair Brian Mast (R-Fla.) introduced one of the chip measures, the AI Overwatch Act, which would give Congress the power to review sales of advanced AI chips to China and other adversaries. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Mast called on Commerce Undersecretary Jeffrey Kessler, who heads the Bureau of Industry and Security, to provide more information and answer questions surrounding Nvidia.

“Kessler is somebody that I’ve had a lot of back and forth with over the last 20, 22 months” on chip export policies, Mast said. “We’ll have a lot more conversations.”

Other Republicans were reluctant to weigh in on Lutnick’s role. Asked whether the Commerce Secretary should face scrutiny, Speaker Mike Johnson said the administration “is looking into all of it.”

“I'm not going to comment any further than that until I find some facts,” Johnson added.

Several lawmakers are also turning up the pressure on Huang, himself.

Moolenaar and Mast both say they are prepared to subpoena the Nvidia CEO if he doesn’t respond by the end of Wednesday to their request for a closed-door briefing. The two lawmakers and House Intelligence Chair Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) sent Huang a letter last week asking him to appear before their committees on Nov. 18.

“All three committees have subpoena power and all three committees have a very serious interest in getting to the bottom of this and having transparency around this,” Moolenaar said.

Kelsey Brugger and Owen Dahlkamp contributed to this report.