Nvidia Board Forced Huang Out as Washington Pressure Mounts

After yet another extramarital affair blew up in public, Nvidia's board cranked up the pressure on Jensen Huang. He finally resigned as CEO, and only with extreme reluctance. Privately, he called himself a "piece of shit." But by then, regret came too late.

Resignation Sparks Washington Firestorm

Huang wanted calm. The storm had other ideas. He may have quit, but he has failed to stop the bleeding, and the sequel to this saga is about to hit the screen.

Bipartisan China hawks in Congress are already rubbing their hands, ready to put Huang through the wringer. They are also pressing Washington officials to come to Congress for a grilling. And the ultimate target in their sights is Donald Trump.

Huang's exit fails to quell storm; political fallout spreads.

Meanwhile, the fire has spread into the White House, setting off infighting inside Trump's team.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tore into Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, accusing him of refusing to blacklist Megaspeed, the company owned by Huang Le, the woman at the center of the storm. That Trump favorite is now teetering on the edge of losing his job.

White House infighting: Bessent (left) blasts Lutnick (right), his job at risk.

Board Pressure Builds

Jensen Huang had long enjoyed smooth sailing in politics. That may be why he was unprepared for this superstorm and underestimated how ruthless the people out to destroy him could be.

Bloomberg reconstructed the inside story of his resignation. Nvidia's board had already questioned him about the extramarital affair at the end of last year, but he missed the danger signs and gave evasive answers.

When media reports kept alleging an affair with Huang Le, the board secretary showed up in person to confront him. Jensen Huang admitted it, yet still wanted to keep the CEO job.

He did not grasp that anyone determined to bring him down would have more than one "grenade" ready. If the first blast failed, a second would follow, and The New York Times duly reported that he had been involved with a female subordinate. That crossed a major line in corporate ethics, leaving the board no choice but to make a clean break and demand his resignation.

By then Jensen Huang knew he could not hang on. He had little choice but to quit, reluctantly.

Congress Circles Nvidia

But his fall from power does not close the case. The scandal has already fired up Washington's China hawks, and an even fiercer political storm is on its way.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer took to social media today to make that clear. "Despite Jensen Huang's resignation, Congress must demand answers from Mr. Huang and others at Nvidia about how they may have put U.S. national security at risk," he wrote. He also took aim at Washington: "The Trump administration must explain its actions after learning of Jensen Huang's ties to a suspected Chinese intelligence asset."

Schumer also signaled that Congress will investigate Trump's relationship with Jensen Huang, pressing the White House on whether government officials were told to stay away from any investigation because of the ties between the two men. He went further, demanding to know what exactly Huang knew when he traveled to China with Trump aboard Air Force One in May this year.

Schumer is not acting alone. In the House, Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, joined by the chairs of two other committees, has sent a letter to Huang demanding that he attend a closed-door briefing next week to answer questions.

All of them are China hawks. For them, this is only the first cut of a slow-slicing operation, and Trump's own lieutenants will not be spared either.

Cabinet Rift Over Megaspeed

The firestorm has reached the White House, and Trump's team is turning on itself.

U.S. media reported yesterday that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent confronted Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick during a closed-door meeting in the White House situation room. Bessent demanded to know why Lutnick had refused to blacklist Megaspeed, a Singapore company linked to Huang Le. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was in the room and backed Bessent.

Lutnick is one of Trump's valued lieutenants. His handling of Megaspeed also turns on Trump's own stance, which makes the fight more complicated.

The Department of Treasury has repeatedly pressed to put Megaspeed on the Entity List, according to U.S. media reports. Department of Commerce has been slow to move.

Bessent is not Lutnick's only problem. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also runs the White House National Security Council, takes a hawkish line on the issue. That adds to the pressure on Lutnick from inside the administration.

Some reports say White House officials are debating whether Lutnick should stay or go. Trump still has confidence in him, and so far he appears unwilling to fire him.

Lutnick is now caught in a two-front fight. Congressional Democrats are also taking aim at him, demanding that he and Jensen Huang testify together.

Under pressure from the hawks, Lutnick agreed to face questioning before Congress on December 3 and 10. He will have to spell out his relationship with Jensen Huang.

Hawks Eye Trump

Every twist in this saga has followed the China hawks' script. Huang's fall will not make them stop. It will only spur them to turn up the fire and hunt him down relentlessly.

Nor will the purge end with Huang. Other tech titans and senior officials are unlikely to escape either.

Their final target is Donald Trump, a president already hobbled.

Lai Ting-yiu

What Say You?

** 博客文章文責自負,不代表本公司立場 **

For the Hong Kong government, the Tai Po Wang Fuk Court fire is an agonizing lesson. The systemic problems it exposed must be fixed at the root, and officials who failed in their duties must not be allowed to muddle through and slip away.
 
A Painful Lesson
Chief Executive John Lee bowed and apologized to the public. He also made clear the government's determination to "reform" and "hold people accountable."
 
In a disaster of this scale, the government's failings certainly deserve blame. But how it patches those failings and hunts down the culprits afterward deserve a fair grading .

I dug into the string of actions the British authorities took after London's 2017 Grenfell Tower inferno and compared them with the response to the Wang Fuk Court fire. The verdict is stark: "Hong Kong speed" leaves "British speed" in the dust. From the disaster itself to the prosecution of the unscrupulous developers alone, Hong Kong was a full nine years faster. That delivers exactly what John Lee demanded: "do it as soon as possible, do it effectively, and get to the bottom of it.”

Grenfell prosecution took 10 years—nine years slower than Hong Kong.

The Grenfell Inferno
London's fire of the century broke out on June 14, 2017. It killed 72 people, making it the deadliest residential blaze in half a century.
 
The government launched an investigation into the causes and responsibility soon after the disaster. Yet the final report did not land until February 26, 2025. It found that the government, the companies involved and the London Fire Brigade had failed at every levels and that serious systemic flaws had combined to produce the catastrophe.
 
The fire raced skyward for one main reason: the tower was clad in highly flammable polyethylene aluminum composite panels. The flames swept through all 24 floors in no time.
 
The report laid out a chain of negligence. The building materials manufacturer had deliberately concealed the dangers of the aluminum panels. The contractor and the building consultant ignored fire safety, and the government had long brushed off fire warnings about the material.
 
The picture painted in the report bears a striking resemblance to the findings of the Independent Committee on the Wang Fuk Court Fire. Yet the speed of the post-disaster response from the British and Hong Kong authorities could hardly be more different.
 
Arrests at Two Speeds
Start with the investigations. Britain took seven years to publish the final report on the Grenfell Tower fire.
 
Hong Kong moved at a different speed. The government announced an independent committee within a week of the Wang Fuk Court fire, launched a full investigation soon after, and published its report about 10 months later. That is more than six years faster than the UK inquiry.

Fifty civil servants probed in three months, unprecedented, Lee vows.

The gap widens further when it comes to arresting and prosecuting the businessmen behind the disaster. Hong Kong police began arresting the contractor and construction consultant involved just days after the fire, and the ICAC moved quickly to make arrests of its own.
 
By mid-December 2025, police had arrested 22 people and the ICAC another 14. Then on June 10 this year, seven people and two companies were charged with manslaughter, money laundering, corruption and other offenses.
 
The UK authorities pale by comparison. London's Metropolitan Police only formally handed its investigation file to prosecutors at the end of September this year, recommending charges of "manslaughter" and "gross negligence" against more than 50 people and 20 companies and organizations.
 
A final decision on whether to prosecute will not come until June next year, and the trial is not expected to begin until 2029. If the case does reach court, it will be a full 12 years after the fire of the century.
 
Reform in the Fast Lane
When it came to post-disaster reform and legislation, the UK government proposed amendments to the Fire Safety Act and the Building Safety Act in 2021, widening the reach of fire safety law. It also set up a Building Safety Regulator to police residential buildings and sharpen accountability.
 
All of it landed four years after the fire.
 
Hong Kong, by contrast, has put the pedal to the metal. Chief Secretary for Administration Chan Kwok-ki said that for the six laws needing amendment, the government aims to submit amendment bills to the Legislative Council within this year, going full throttle into the fast lane.
 
The planned Maintenance Support and Services Bureau is on the same sprint. Preparations are racing ahead, with the bureau set to begin operating before year-end and roll out services from January next year. Chan cast the urgency in the language of a legal order to be executed at once.
 
Who Takes the Blame
Hong Kong and Britain also part ways on accountability, not just speed. After the deadly Grenfell Tower fire, then-Prime Minister Keir Starmer apologized in public, without a bow. That was it. Not a single minister or junior minister lost their job.
 
Hong Kong tells a different story. John Lee and a lineup of bureau chiefs bowed together in apology. Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho went further, resigning to answer the call of political accountability.
 
Two fires of the century, two very different responses after the smoke cleared. Readers should grade the Hong Kong authorities' efficiency and determination fairly.

Lai Ting-yiu