US lawmakers pile pressure on Howard Lutnick as Nvidia scandal widens

{"text":[[{"start":9.22,"text":"One of Donald Trump’s top cabinet members has been dragged into the Nvidia scandal, as furious US lawmakers demand Howard Lutnick explain how he allowed chips to be exported to a company linked to an alleged Chinese spy."}],[{"start":21.68,"text":"Outraged Republican legislators on Thursday called for Lutnick, the US commerce secretary, to testify before Congress, while top Democrats demanded that he preserve documents related to the case for investigations."}],[{"start":33.6,"text":"“There needs to be a thorough investigation and accountability for the outrageous circumvention of national security export controls,” Republican senator John Cornyn told the FT. “Heads should roll.”"}],[{"start":45.6,"text":"The scrutiny of the commerce department’s export controls follows the shock resignation of Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang over revelations that he had extramarital affairs, including with Alice Huang, an executive at Singapore-based Nvidia customer Megaspeed. US intelligence officials believe she was a Chinese spy."}],[{"start":64.28,"text":"Earlier this week, the FT reported Lutnick’s commerce department had delayed efforts to add Megaspeed to Washington’s blacklist of companies the US considers a risk to national security."}],[{"start":74.72,"text":"American companies require licences from the commerce department to export goods to companies on the so-called entity list, as part of Washington’s attempt to stop cutting-edge technologies falling into the hands of the Chinese military."}],[{"start":87.12,"text":"John Curtis, a Utah Republican senator, accused Huang of “gross negligence” that had “exposed cracks in our national security”. He added that “Lutnick’s reported stalling on export controls raises the question of whether the commerce department is acting in the best interests of the American people”."}],[{"start":104,"text":"Darin LaHood, a Republican member on the House committee on China, told the FT that it was “important for secretary Lutnick to truthfully testify before Congress soon” and to provide “detailed information about what the commerce department has and has not done to prevent China from getting advanced technology”."}],[{"start":120.68,"text":"Pete Ricketts, a Republican senator for Nebraska, said Congress needed to hear from commerce department officials over why actions on Megaspeed were “delayed”."}],[{"start":128.96,"text":"Lutnick is the second Trump administration cabinet official to come under fire from Congress this week, after defence secretary Pete Hegseth narrowly survived an impeachment vote in the House of Representatives over his role in the Iran war."}],[{"start":142.76,"text":"The renewed pressure on the Trump administration from lawmakers comes just a week after Republicans lost control of both the US Senate and House of Representatives in the midterm elections."}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":153.08,"text":"Lutnick, a former chief executive of investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald, has overseen many of Trump’s most contentious trade war tariffs, including steep duties on steel, copper, aluminium, lumber and cars."}],[{"start":166.38,"text":"He has also been tasked with advising the president on whether to place levies on an array of other sectors, including chips, pharmaceutical goods and critical minerals."}],[{"start":176.84,"text":"Last year, the US justice department took over the commerce department’s investigation into Megaspeed after Nvidia’s general counsel sought information into it, according to The New York Times."}],[{"start":188.12,"text":"Democrats also weighed in. “The administration suspected Alice Huang for a year and didn’t put Megaspeed on the entity list or warn Nvidia. Why not? Was our national security or Nvidia’s technology compromised?” Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House foreign affairs committee, told the FT."}],[{"start":205.64,"text":"“Did the push to approve high-end chip licences for China shape the administration’s response? We should get answers in this Congress. If we don’t, Democrats will get them next year.”"}],[{"start":215.96,"text":"Meeks’ Democratic colleagues on the committees overseeing tax and trade issues in the Senate and House accused the commerce department of “a profound lack of due diligence” in their process “for approving these Chinese buyers of Nvidia chips”."}],[{"start":228.32,"text":"In a letter addressed to Lutnick on Thursday, Senator Ron Wyden and Congressman Richard Neal requested that the commerce department preserve all records and communications related to the national security probe of imports into semiconductors, export licence applications submitted by Nvidia, and all communications with and about the company and Huang."}],[{"start":247.44,"text":"The legislators also referred to millions of dollars in donations made by Huang to Trump’s “personal priorities such as the White House ballroom” and questioned “whether and to what extent political considerations are improperly influencing policy decisions made by the administration”."}],[{"start":263.36,"text":"Nvidia secretly donated $25mn to build Trump’s new White House ballroom in October 2025, after it struck a deal with the administration to sell chips in China, according to The Washington Post. The company also donated $1mn to the January 2025 Trump inauguration."}],[{"start":281.04,"text":"Earlier on Thursday, Republicans said they were in “ongoing negotiations” with Huang to testify before Congress. But Brian Mast, Republican chair of the House foreign affairs committee, warned that the testimony might not happen before the US Thanksgiving holiday later this month."}],[{"start":296.6,"text":"The White House and commerce department did not respond to requests for comment."}],[{"start":305.56,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1794561870_8330.mp3"}