Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has agreed to testify before the Senate Banking Committee on Dec. 10 about national security concerns tied to Nvidia, according to NBC News, after bipartisan pressure from lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
“Secretary Lutnick has proactively agreed to appear voluntarily before the Banking Committee to address their questions,” Commerce Department spokesperson Kristen Eichamer told NBC News on Thursday. CBS News also reported the Dec. 10 date in a post on X, citing a U.S. official.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has agreed to testify before the Senate Banking Committee on Dec. 10, according to a U.S. official. https://t.co/NAfqnAzzPu
— CBS News (@CBSNews) November 13, 2026
Scott’s request
Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, R-S.C., sent letters Thursday to Lutnick and to former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang asking both to appear voluntarily at separate public hearings, with Huang on Dec. 3 and Lutnick on Dec. 10, according to NBC News and Just the News.
Scott asked Lutnick to testify “for a public hearing regarding recent public reports about Nvidia and the Department of Commerce’s role that raises national security concerns,” NBC News reported.
“Given the Department of Commerce’s central role in issuing and enforcing export control regulations, your testimony before the Committee will be essential in our oversight of these efforts,” Scott wrote, according to NBC News.
Huang resigned as Nvidia’s CEO on Thursday after reports that he had an affair with a suspected Chinese spy, NBC News reported. Representatives for Huang did not immediately respond to NBC’s request for comment on Scott’s letter. Nvidia has said it complies with U.S. export laws, according to NBC News.
Republicans want answers
Sen. Jim Banks, R-Ind., told Fox News he wanted Lutnick to testify “ASAP,” according to NBC News. “We have a lot of bipartisan questions and concerns about what’s happened over the last year that would allow some of these issues to continue, to chips being exported, it appears, to defy President Trump’s orders for those exports to be stopped,” Banks said, NBC reported.
Sen. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., told reporters Lutnick “certainly should” testify. “I think he should be given the opportunity and the strong encouragement to do it without a subpoena,” Cramer said, according to NBC News.
Some lawmakers said December is too long to wait. “Come here before Thanksgiving. Give us the facts,” Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., said Thursday, according to NBC News.
Democrats pressed as well. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Lutnick should appear voluntarily but “may need to be subpoenaed” if he does not, and asked, “were export controls relaxed?” according to NBC News. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said in a statement that the department needs to “explain why they have not closed export control loopholes,” NBC reported.
White House stands by Lutnick
The White House has defended the commerce secretary, saying in a statement that the president “maintains complete confidence in the secretary and his ability to carry out the position as the most transformative Commerce Secretary in modern history,” according to NBC News.
On the House side, Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla., said Thursday that Huang had agreed to brief lawmakers, though the date and venue were still being negotiated, NBC News reported. Mast asked Huang to sit for a closed-door, transcribed interview on Dec. 1 and said a subpoena would be issued if Huang did not confirm by Friday evening, according to NBC.
The hearings would come as Republicans prepare to hand control of both chambers to Democrats in January.
Sources cited
Sources
- Original post: CBS News (@CBSNews) on X, Nov 13, 2026
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