The forced resignation of Trump-friendly billionaire Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang could become a political headache for the president—and an escape hatch for Republicans looking to distance themselves from him.
On The Daily Beast Podcast, host Joanna Coles and executive editor Hugh Dougherty reacted to Huang’s exit from the AI chip giant amid reports of extramarital affairs with a suspected Chinese spy and two Nvidia employees.
Photo Illustration by Victoria Sunday/The Daily Beast/Getty Images
They also examined what it could all mean for President Donald Trump’s inner circle and Washington more broadly. Huang, 63, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, 65, have both agreed to testify before Congress, though only Lutnick has a hearing date scheduled.
“The Democrats have every motivation to go after this,” Dougherty said. “It sheds light on, ‘Why is everything unaffordable?’ Because he’s doing business with billionaires, because the whole arc of government is being bent toward the interest of somebody who… was worth $200 billion.”
“And for Republicans who just got absolutely shaken by this blue tsunami, they can run away from Trump,” he added. “They can say, ‘No, no. Do you know what? I’m bipartisan. I’m investigating.’”
Indiana Republican Sen. Jim Banks, for instance, was among those who called for Huang and Lutnick to appear before the Senate Banking Committee.
Likewise, Utah Republican Sen. John Curtis stated that while Huang’s “gross negligence exposed cracks in our national security,” Lutnick’s “reported stalling on export controls raises the question of whether the Commerce Department is acting in the best interests of the American people.”
“Their interest now is not sucking up to Trump,” Dougherty said of the GOP’s current posture. “Their interest now is being independent, standing up for the American worker, being in touch with the issues of the people.”
The Huang controversy and his ties to the White House are “exactly what the Democrats were talking about,” he added. “He doesn’t care about you. He cares about billionaires.”
As Republican and Democratic lawmakers question Lutnick over the Trump administration’s refusal to add Chinese companies to a U.S. trade blacklist, and whether his department properly managed Nvidia’s exports to China, the White House has reportedly considered dismissing him.
Trump, who reportedly urged Huang to fight to stay in his role, has publicly stood by the former CEO, describing his resignation as “sad.”
But Trump, 80, has not explained when he first learned of the national security concerns surrounding Huang’s reported affair with the suspected spy.
Huang and Trump have been close. The former Nvidia CEO donated $25 million to Trump’s ballroom. In September, he joined other tech leaders at the White House, and in May, he accompanied Trump on the president’s trip to China.
US House Speaker Mike Johnson, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI President Greg Brockman, SpacexAI Founder and CEO Elon Musk, Nvidia President and CEO Jensen Huang, and CEO of AMD Lisa Su attend a luncheon for tech leaders hosted by US President Donald Trump in the East Room of the White House in Washington, DC, Sept. 29, 2026.
The White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment.
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