Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott has asked Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and former Nvidia chief Jensen Huang to testify, as House Republicans demand closed-door interviews amid national security concerns.
What do we know?
Huang resigned from Nvidia after reports of a relationship with a businesswoman named Alice Huang, whom US authorities suspect of spying for China. China denies she is a spy.
“Recent reports raise serious concerns about our national security and the protection of sensitive US technology,” Scott wrote on X. “I am requesting that Nvidia ex-CEO Jensen Huang and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick testify before the Senate Banking Committee.”
Scott said he would consider a subpoena if Huang does not appear voluntarily: “The American people deserve answers.”
Politico reported that Scott asked Huang to testify on December 3 and Lutnick on December 10. Lutnick has agreed to testify, NBC News quoted a Commerce Department spokesman as saying.
What is the latest on Jenson Huang?
Huang’s resignation comes as Nvidia was investigating the reports that he had been targeted by a “foreign intelligence effort.”
Colette Kress, the company’s current executive vice president and chief financial officer, has been named as interim CEO.
In an email to Nvidia staff on Sunday, Huang said: “I was unfaithful to my wife. My actions hurt her and our children. There is no excuse for what I did. I am deeply sorry.”
The New York Times reported Wednesday that Huang also had an affair with an Nvidia executive who worked for him.
Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Republican Mike Johnson, said Huang “did the right thing” by resigning.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump, who had publicly defended Huang several times this week, calling him an “honorable guy” and a “fine person,” called for Apple’s former CEO Tim Cook to replace Huang at Nvidia.
How is Lutnick involved?
Lawmakers have also criticized Lutnick over the administration’s refusal to add dozens of Chinese companies to a key US trade blacklist, and over its oversight of Nvidia’s China exports.
Two people familiar with the matter told Reuters that the White House was discussing whether to push Lutnick out.
Separately, three House committee chairs told Huang and Nvidia General Counsel Tim Teter to appear for closed-door interviews on December 1 and 2, or face subpoenas.
“There are clear national security concerns that need to be addressed immediately,” they wrote, Reuters reported.
DW News
