White House Says Trump Has ‘Complete Confidence’ in Lutnick, but Democrats and a GOP Senator Want Answers on Nvidia

The White House said Thursday that President Donald Trump is sticking with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, even as lawmakers in both parties demand to know why his department did not move against a company at the center of the Nvidia spy scandal.

“President Trump maintains complete confidence in the secretary and his ability to carry out the position as the most transformative Commerce Secretary in modern history,” a White House official told Axios. The official called Lutnick “a champion of President Trump’s America First trade and tariff policies.”

The vote of confidence came after Axios reported that Trump approved action at least three times this year, in May, August and Nov. 5, against companies suspected of diverting Nvidia’s advanced AI chips to China, and that Lutnick and Commerce Undersecretary Jeffrey Kessler repeatedly resisted.

The New York Times reported Wednesday that the Commerce Department never acted against Megaspeed, the Singapore-based firm at the heart of the scandal, The National reported. Former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigned after an affair with Alice Huang, a Megaspeed executive U.S. intelligence officials suspect of being a Chinese agent. The two are not related.

Democrats Line Up to Investigate

“Howard Lutnick needs to be investigated over his role in Jensen Huang and the Chinese spy, we’re going to have an investigation into those allegations, that’s completely unacceptable,” Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., told Fox News Digital.

Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., also backed a probe and did not rule out looking at Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “Rubio knew about the Chinese spy, and then got invited to the China trip,” Khanna told Fox News Digital. Neither Lutnick nor Rubio has been accused of wrongdoing, and neither responded to the outlet.

Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Chris Coons, D-Del., who are in line to lead the Banking and Foreign Relations committees, asked Lutnick, Rubio and White House chief of staff Stephen Miller to “preserve all records” on the administration’s dealings with Nvidia, Yahoo Finance reported.

A Republican Joins the Chorus

The pressure is not only coming from the left. “Secretary Lutnick needs to answer [why he chose to allow the sales of advanced chips] in front of God and country,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told Politico, according to Yahoo Finance. Former White House strategist Steve Bannon said, “We are going to have to get to the bottom of what happened at Commerce.”

Prediction markets have taken notice. Lutnick has passed both War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Rubio as the prediction markets’ top pick to be the next Cabinet secretary to leave, the Washington Examiner reported.

The Commerce Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment, The National reported.

Content created by Conservative Daily News and some content syndicated through CDN is available for re-publication without charge under the Creative Commons license. Visit our syndication page for details and requirements.