Howard Lutnick reportedly in hot seat over Nvidial CEO scandal fallout

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is reportedly taking heat from within the Trump administration over his longtime friendship with ex-Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and his unwillingness put greater restrictions on chip exports. 

According to The Wall Street Journal, Lutnick is looking like he could be the fall guy that administration officials might pin responsibility for the ensuing political mess that has grown out of the scandal on, and reportes that he is fighting to keep his job in the Cabinet. Lutnick, the Journal notes, has often clashed with other administration officials in the past on other issues. 

However, the White House is so far expressing support for the embattled commerce secretary. Trump “maintains complete confidence in the secretary and his ability to carry out the position as the most transformative Commerce Secretary in modern history,” the White House said in a statement to The Wall Street Journal.

But the tensions between Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Lutnick were apparent Friday morning during an interview on CNBC. Bessent claimed that he, along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and War Secretary Pete Hegseth, wanted to restrict chip sales to the Singapore-based tech company Megaspeed. But Lutnick resisted their calls to do so, Bessent said.

Megaspeed is the company run by Alice Huang, the suspected Chinese spy who had an affair with Jensen Huang, news of which led to his abrupt downfall as CEO of one of the world's most valuable companies. 

Watch a clip from Bessent's interview below.