Bessent knocks Lutnick on Megaspeed

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is coming under more friendly fire over his department’s policing of AI chip exports.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent this morning publicly blamed Lutnick for the administration’s failure to blacklist AI firm Megaspeed, telling CNBC that Treasury “has been pushing for this for months” but Commerce “has the pen.”

Lutnick, who’d initially competed for Bessent’s job, agreed this week to testify before Congress following the news of former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s affair with a Megaspeed executive who is suspected of being a Chinese spy.

The scrutiny has raised questions about Lutnick’s job security, but many Republicans are still publicly defending the close Trump ally, leaving few certain that he may really be on his way out. “This guy has nine lives,” a person close to the White House told Semafor. “How many does he have left?”

— Eleanor Mueller and Shelby Talcott