Howard Lutnick, the businessman who opened the doors of the White House to Jensen Huang, now faces the prospect of paying the political price for the Nvidia scandal himself. The US Commerce Secretary is coming under increasing pressure from Trump administration officials, Republicans and Democrats in Congress, as questions mount over his decision not to impose restrictions on a company suspected of channelling advanced American microchips to China.

According to a new CNN investigation, based on interviews with more than a dozen sources within the US government and the technology industry, Lutnick played a decisive role in building the close relationship between US President Donald Trump and White House’s former chief executive.

That relationship developed into one of the US administration’s most important channels of communication with the artificial intelligence industry, influencing decisions on exports of advanced processors, trade relations with China and Washington’s strategy in its technological competition with Beijing.

The problem for the Commerce Secretary is that, while he was cultivating this relationship, other US government agencies were warning of potential national security risks.

At the centre of the controversy is Megaspeed International, a Singapore-based company that is a major Nvidia customer and is under investigation for potentially circumventing US restrictions on exports of advanced chips to China.

A former executive at the company is Alice Huang, the Chinese businesswoman with whom Jensen Huang allegedly had an extramarital relationship and who is under scrutiny by US intelligence agencies over possible links to Chinese intelligence services.

Huang’s resignation from Nvidia on Thursday, 12 November, brought the affair to the forefront of political debate in Washington. According to US media reports, some Trump advisers are now discussing the possibility of removing the Commerce Secretary from the administration.

From the first telephone call to access to Trump

The relationship between Lutnick and Huang began to take on particular significance in the early months of Donald Trump’s second presidential term. Speaking on Joe Rogan’s podcast last December, Huang described the first telephone call he received from Lutnick, who was then preparing to take over as Commerce Secretary.

According to Nvidia’s then chief executive, Lutnick described both him and his company as a “national treasure” and made it clear that he could contact the administration whenever necessary. “Whenever you need access to the president or the administration, give us a call,” was the message Huang said he had received.

The approach was particularly significant because Donald Trump had little knowledge of either Nvidia or its founder when he returned to the White House. As he later acknowledged, he initially wondered who Huang was and what exactly his company did.

Their first meeting took place just eleven days after Trump’s inauguration, in early 2025. From that point onwards, Huang gained increasingly direct access to the US president, with Lutnick’s involvement playing a central role.

The $1 million dinner and the battle over chips

One of the defining moments in their growing relationship was a dinner at Mar-a-Lago in April 2025. According to CNN, Lutnick helped arrange Huang’s attendance at a fundraising event for the political organisation MAGA Inc., where participation cost $1 million per guest.

At the event, Nvidia’s chief executive attempted to persuade Trump not to introduce restrictions on sales of H20 processors to China. These chips had been designed to meet some of the requirements of the Chinese market without incorporating all the capabilities of the most powerful American artificial intelligence processors.

Nvidia argued that completely excluding the company from the Chinese market would strengthen domestic competitors and accelerate the development of alternative Chinese technologies. Huang had publicly stated that restrictions had already cost his company approximately $15 billion in sales.

The initial attempt to prevent the restrictions did not produce a lasting result, as the US administration eventually introduced a special licensing requirement for H20 exports. Nevertheless, Nvidia’s chief executive continued his contacts with the White House.

The August agreement and the 15% share of sales to China

In July 2025, Huang returned to the Oval Office accompanied by Howard Lutnick and David Sacks, the White House adviser on artificial intelligence. His argument was now based on a broader geopolitical objective: if China continued to use American chips and American artificial intelligence systems, the United States would maintain a significant advantage in the global market.

Five days after the meeting, Nvidia announced that the US administration had provided assurances about the resumption of H20 sales to China. Lutnick publicly defended the decision, arguing that the objective was to keep the Chinese technology industry dependent on the American ecosystem. The agreement was finalised in August 2025, with Trump’s personal involvement.

The most unusual element was Nvidia’s agreement to pay the US government 15% of its revenue from the relevant sales to China. The arrangement raised serious questions in Washington about the connection between national security policy, commercial negotiations and government revenue.

Critics of the administration argued that China’s access to advanced technology should not be subject to financial bargaining. Trump and supporters of the agreement, by contrast, maintained that preserving US technological influence in the Chinese market represented a strategic advantage.

Nvidia’s $25 million contribution to the new White House ballroom

Huang’s relationship with Trump acquired another dimension. According to The Washington Post, Nvidia pledged to contribute $25 million towards the construction of the new White House ballroom.

The amount appeared in internal fundraising documents obtained by the newspaper, while the company had requested that the size of its contribution not be made public. Nvidia confirmed the donation, maintaining that its support for the project was unrelated to its business interests.

Nevertheless, the timing of the contribution, coinciding with favourable decisions on chip exports, prompted further questions from the administration’s political opponents. There is no evidence demonstrating that the donation was linked to any specific government decision. Even so, Nvidia’s financial involvement in initiatives associated with Trump has now become part of the wider political controversy.

Intelligence warnings that did not lead to restrictions

While Huang’s relationship with the administration was becoming increasingly close, US intelligence agencies were examining a different issue. Their attention was focused on Alice Huang, a former senior executive at Megaspeed International.

The company had become a major purchaser of Nvidia processors, with estimates putting the value of its purchases at more than $4 billion. US authorities had been investigating since 2024 whether Megaspeed was being used to circumvent restrictions on chip exports.

According to CNN, FBI officials had briefed members of Congress in late 2025 that Jensen Huang might have been the target of an approach by a foreign intelligence service. The suspicions were linked to his personal relationship with Alice Huang.

Among other matters, US agencies were examining the businesswoman’s professional background, including her previous employment at a Chinese state television organisation before entering the business sector. According to the relevant reports, the intelligence was passed to senior US administration officials.

Donald Trump had been informed of the intelligence agencies’ concerns as early as late 2025, while the Commerce Department had also reportedly received a classified memorandum on the matter. Despite the warnings, Megaspeed was not added to the Commerce Department’s export restrictions list.

It should be emphasised that there is no proof that Alice Huang was acting as an agent of China or that Jensen Huang passed on classified information. Beijing rejects the allegations, while Megaspeed denies violating US law.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was reportedly FURIOUS with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick during a Situation Room CLASH last Thursday, demanding to know why Megaspeed, a major Nvidia customer accused of funneling AI chips to China, still wasn’t BLACKLISTED, according to Axios. "I don’t know. I’ll look into it," Lutnick reportedly replied after stammering. Megaspeed sits at the CENTER of the Nvidia scandal. Its former managing director, Alice Huang, is the suspected Chinese spy who allegedly had an affair with CEO Jensen Huang, and employees say she is STILL running the company behind the scenes.

— RedWave Press (@RedWavePress) November 11, 2026

Bessent and Lutnick clash over Megaspeed

The crisis within the US administration escalated last week. According to CNN, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had a heated confrontation with Howard Lutnick during a meeting in the White House Situation Room.

Bessent reportedly demanded an explanation as to why Megaspeed had still not been placed on the list of companies subject to strict restrictions on access to American technology. According to sources cited by CNN, Lutnick replied that he did not know the reason and would look into the matter. The dispute subsequently spilled into the public arena.

On Friday, 13 November, Bessent told CNBC that the Treasury Department, State Department, Pentagon and Office of the US Trade Representative had supported imposing restrictions on Megaspeed for months. He made clear, however, that responsibility for the final decision rested with the Commerce Department. “Commerce has the authority. You’ll have to ask them about their internal processes,” he said.

Bessent also expressed frustration over indications that advanced American chips might have been reaching China despite government prohibitions. According to CNN and Axios, administration officials maintain that Trump himself had repeatedly requested that tougher restrictions be considered, without the Commerce Department taking the action they regarded as necessary.

The precise sequence of internal instructions and decisions has not yet been fully clarified.

Discussions over his removal as Trump continues to back him

The revelations have made Lutnick a target of criticism even within the administration itself. According to CNN, Axios and The Wall Street Journal, some Trump advisers have discussed the possibility of removing him as Commerce Secretary. Those discussions intensified following Jensen Huang’s resignation, as administration officials began seeking to establish responsibility for the handling of chip exports.

The pressure is not coming exclusively from Democrats.

Republican senators and conservative commentators have also questioned Lutnick’s conduct, while some are calling for him to appear before Congress. So far, however, Donald Trump has not withdrawn his confidence in the Commerce Secretary.

The White House has announced that the president retains full confidence in Lutnick and his ability to perform his duties. That remains the administration’s official position, despite the public dispute between senior Cabinet members.

For its part, the Commerce Department has rejected as inaccurate reports suggesting that Lutnick systematically obstructed the introduction of restrictions.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has repeatedly stalled Trump’s crackdowns on AI firms diverting Nvidia chips to China. Most recently, Lutnick putatively refused, against the President’s orders, to add Megaspeed to a federal export blacklist for over 13 months. As of today, Megaspeed has still not been added to the blacklist. Under Lutnick, the Commerce Department went its single longest stretch of time ever without putting a single company on its federal trade blacklist, from October 2025 to November 2026. Megaspeed is the Sinagore-based Chinese front-company currently in the news because Alice Huang, the alleged Chinese spy who seduced Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, bought and rebranded it in March 2023 before purchasing $4.8 billion in Nvidia chips between June 2024 and February 2026. Treasury Secretary Bessent most recently confronted Lutnick over his confounding actions during a meeting with Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, and Jamieson Greer in the Situation Room. Lutnick has been at the epicenter of many of the corruption scandals consistently plaguing the administration, from his sons, who inherited Cantor Fitzgerald, nakedly profiteering off of tariff refunds, to his own business involvement with Jeffrey Epstein, which he initially lied about. Follow: @AFpost

— AF Post (@AFpost) November 12, 2026

Lutnick’s financial interests and longstanding business ties with China

The affair has also reignited scrutiny of the Commerce Secretary’s previous business activities. Before joining the administration, Lutnick was chairman and chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald, one of Wall Street’s best-known investment firms.

According to CBS News, Cantor Fitzgerald held Nvidia shares worth approximately $1.2 billion around the time of his appointment as Commerce Secretary. Another company with which he had business connections, BGC Group, held a 33% stake in a joint venture with the Chinese state-owned China Credit Trust.

Cantor Fitzgerald had also helped Chinese companies list on US stock exchanges. These business relationships had already been the subject of questions during his Senate confirmation process in 2025.

Lutnick maintained at the time that he took a particularly cautious approach towards China and would protect American technological interests. Before taking office, he resigned from his management positions in his businesses, transferring control to his children.

The existence of previous financial relationships does not establish a conflict of interest or unlawful interference in government decisions. Nevertheless, his critics argue that these ties reinforce the need for full transparency over his contacts with Nvidia and his handling of export licences.

Congress demands answers from Lutnick and Huang

Political pressure is now shifting to Congress, where lawmakers from both parties are demanding a detailed investigation. Republican Senator Tim Scott, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, has called on both Howard Lutnick and Jensen Huang to testify.

The hearing is scheduled for 3 December, while other congressional committees are also preparing their own proceedings.

Democratic Senators Elizabeth Warren and Chris Coons have also called for the preservation of all government documents, communications and records relating to Nvidia, Megaspeed and advanced chip exports.

The questions the administration must answer are specific: what exactly did the relevant Cabinet members know about the espionage suspicions, why were the restrictions sought by other agencies not imposed earlier, and to what extent did Nvidia’s contacts with political leaders influence the decisions involved?

Meanwhile, investigations are continuing into whether the company’s advanced processors were illegally channelled to Chinese businesses.

The scandal ahead of Trump’s meeting with Xi Jinping

The timing is particularly sensitive for the US administration, as Donald Trump prepares to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping next week in Shenzhen, one of China’s most important technology centres.

Exports of advanced microchips are already among the central issues in the economic and strategic competition between the two countries. For Washington, maintaining technological superiority in artificial intelligence is regarded as crucial to both the economy and national security.

For Nvidia, the Chinese market remains particularly important despite the restrictions and Beijing’s efforts to develop its own processors.

Trump therefore faces a difficult balancing act: on the one hand, he wants to support American technology companies and their exports, while on the other, he faces pressure to prevent the transfer of technology that could strengthen China’s military and intelligence capabilities.

Against this backdrop, Howard Lutnick finds himself at the centre of a crisis that began with revelations about Jensen Huang’s private life but has developed into a serious confrontation over government decisions, the operation of regulatory oversight mechanisms and the influence of major corporations within the White House.