Bessent Publicly Throws Lutnick Under the Bus as Nvidia Scandal Grows
The knives are out for Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick over the Nvidia chips spying scandal.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent placed blame for the Trump administration’s inaction regarding Megaspeed, the Chinese firm at the center of the Nvidia spying scandal, solely on Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
“There’ve been reports that there was some tension between you and Secretary Lutnick about why Megaspeed was not placed on the entity list,” Bessent was asked on Friday morning on CNBC. “Could Treasury have done that? Was it only Lutnick that could’ve done that?”
“I can tell you there was coordination. It was Treasury, War, [the U.S. trade representative], and State. They were in favor of putting Megaspeed on the entity list for months. But Commerce has the pen,” Bessent replied. “You will have to ask [Lutnick] about their internal process.”
Questions are swirling about Lutnick’s close relationship with former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who recently stepped down over reports of his affair with Megaspeed executive (and suspected Chinese intelligence asset) Alice Huang. The Commerce Department did not list Megaspee...