Republicans on Capitol Hill are putting pressure on Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang now resigns appear before Congress early next month about the scandal It has shaken one of the world’s most valuable companies — as a Senate panel asks Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to testify.
“We need to know the extent to which our national security has been put at risk,” the chairmen of the House Select Committee on China, the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Intelligence Committee said in a statement requesting Huang’s presence.
The three committee chairmen wrote a letter on Thursday asking Huang to appear for a closed-door interview on December 1. They said that if he did not accept their request by Friday evening, the House Foreign Affairs Committee would issue him a subpoena.
The upper house also urged Huang to appear. Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee, asked Huang to voluntarily testify before the committee during the first week of December, but warned that the committee was prepared to use its subpoena power if necessary.
“The American people deserve answers,” Scott wrote on X.
Nvidia, whose chips have fueled the AI boom, announced Thursday that Huang had resigned following a scandal involving his affair with Alice Huangformer executive of the Megaspeed company, suspected of being a Chinese spy.
Huang’s resignation from the company he co-founded did not dampen calls from members of Congress for answers about Nvidia’s dealings with Megaspeed, a Singapore-based data center company that has gained access to highly prized chips that are banned from export to China. Megaspeed is under investigation in the United States and Singapore for allegedly smuggling these chips into China – allegations that Megaspeed has denied.
Moments before Nvidia announced Huang’s resignation, Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota said Thursday morning on CNBC that he would happily support subpoenaing Huang. A spokesperson for Cramer said he would still support subpoenaing the tech founder.
The controversy also raised questions about whether the federal government did enough to prevent Nvidia’s chips from being diverted to China — and about the Trump administration’s close relationship with Huang.
Scott has asked Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to appear for a public hearing next month. The House Foreign Affairs Committee also requested testimony from Deputy Commerce Secretary Jeffrey Kessler, who heads the Bureau of Industry and Security, an agency that oversees export controls.
A few critics argued Lutnick’s Commerce Department should have taken action to prevent Megaspeed from purchasing chips. The New York Times reported that a Bureau of Industry and Security investigation into the company was halted last year.
Republican Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana told CNN on Thursday that he wanted to hear from Lutnick and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, saying, “It’s as bad as an aneurysm.”
Earlier Thursday, the chairman of the House Select Committee on China, Michigan Republican Rep. John Moolenaar, said lawmakers were “in discussions” with Huang “on a date to come and meet with us.” But he added: “If for some reason this were not to happen, all three committees, all three chairs said we would use our subpoena power.”
Moolenaar and two other chairmen — Rep. Brian Mast of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Rep. Rick Crawford of the Intelligence Committee — first requested Huang to appear in a letter last week. They said the purpose of the closed-door briefing would be to discuss Nvidia’s “security protocols against espionage by foreign adversaries and your interactions with a publicized People’s Republic of China (PRC) intelligence agent.” Lawmakers gave Huang a deadline of Wednesday to respond.
Mast and Moolenaar told reporters on Thursday they had received a response. Mast said Huang indicated he was prepared to appear. Moolenaar said Huang’s resignation “effectively changes the dynamic” surrounding his potential testimony.
“I think right now our goal is to get him involved as quickly as possible, so we can fully understand the facts and get to the bottom of the truth of this situation,” Moolenaar said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune also told CBS News that he expects “there will be interest in having oversight” in the Senate. Asked if he wanted Huang to testify, Thune said: “I think it would make sense because of, again, the nature of the association and governments and national security interests, which is what we’re talking about here.”
Democrats will take control of the House and Senate in January. New York Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats also have questions for the Trump administration.
“Despite Jensen Huang’s resignation, Congress must demand answers from Mr. Huang and others at Nvidia about how they may have endangered American national security,” Schumer said on X. “The Trump administration must also answer for what it did once it learned of Mr. Huang’s relationship with an alleged Chinese intelligence agent.”
President Trump, a friend of Huang’s, downplayed the scandal and said he did not believe Huang knew the Megaspeed executive was a spy. The president said Thursday that Huang had done a “fantastic job.”
“NOW THAT JENSEN HUANG, CEO of Nvidia, who did a fantastic job, has resigned, there is only one man to replace him: TIM COOK of Apple,” the president said on Truth Social.
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