We have to survive two more years of Trump’s presidency (unless he’s impeached or or otherwise removed.) Meanwhile, he has blithely been allowing China to steal America’s chip secrets to China. It’s the oldest trick in the book–an egotistical man fell for a honey trap. Trump himself was warned about this and ignored all the warnings.
At The Bulwark, William Kristol has an excellent summary of what happened. He summarizes the latest articles, so you don’t have to read them individually: The Chips Are Falling Into China’s Lap.
Let’s take a quick look at what we’ve learned, or what’s been confirmed, in just the past couple of days. (And I’ll note that all of this is before any congressional investigations have begun, before there’s been sworn testimony from administration officials and others, before further other investigations into Nvidia and other actors, before lawsuits, before the deluge of leaks we’re likely to get from people within the Trump administration.)
Donald Trump Knew. The New York Times reported yesterday that President Trump was told directly by Marco Rubio aboard Air Force One en route to China in May that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang was in a relationship with a Chinese spy. “It marked at least the second time in seven months that the president had been told of intelligence about Mr. Huang’s involvement with the woman.”
So for the last six months at least, Trump has been palling around with Huang, praising Huang, presumably sharing information and thoughts with Huang, and taking counsel and advice from Huang, all the while knowing it was very possible that everything he said was being passed on to the government of China and much of what he was hearing had been shaped by the government China.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang with girlfriend Alice Huang
Jensen Huang lied. The Times report also reminds us that in response to earlier reports that Alice Huang was a Chinese intelligence asset and in a relationship with Jensen Huang,
Nvidia executives and Mr. Huang both insisted that the relationship was a routine engagement with a customer. On Sunday, Mr. Huang admitted to a romantic relationship with Ms. Huang. Soon after, Nvidia announced that the company would conduct an independent investigation.
So Huang lied to others in the company, and the company dutifully lied to the rest of us. And there are some indications we’ll discover much more lying about various business matters and corporate relationships, not just personal ones.
Howard Lutnick Obstructed. Politico reports that officials in the Bureau of Industry and Security, the office that oversees tech exports, had warned in dozens of reports of the risk of Nvidia’s advanced chips being diverted to China. But the higher-ups in the Commerce Department, run by Trump’s buddy and business partner Howard Lutnick, chose not to impose meaningful new restrictions on the company.
And the Financial Timesreported yesterday that several U.S. government agencies pushed for Alice Huang’s company, Megaspeed, to be included on the so-called entity list of groups connected to China that posed national security risks. But again, the Commerce Department refused to act. The FT quotes Chris McGuire, a former senior U.S. government export controls official: “It is mind-boggling that [Commerce] knew months ago that Megaspeed is being run by a Chinese spy but did nothing to stop them from buying $4.8 billion worth of Nvidia chips.”
Keith Riggin, a former CIA station chief in Beijing who later advised U.S. companies on the Chinese intelligence threat, says he gave American executives a simple warning about beautiful women who might approach them in Beijing: “You don’t get any better-looking when you go to a place like China.”
But top American executives and government officials are often arrogant, says Riggin. They overlook warnings, and they sometimes think security rules don’t apply to them. That can make them easy marks for the increasingly sophisticated tradecraft of China’s spy service, the Ministry of State Security.
Jensen Huang with wife Lori
Jensen Huang, co-founder of the multitrillion-dollar chipmaker Nvidia, appears to be the most prominent American yet to fall into an MSS honey trap. At least two years ago, he was drawn into what became a sexual relationship with an alleged MSS contact named Alice Huang. But he’s hardly the first. Riggin told me that he knows of at least 20 others who were victims of similar operations.
The Nvidia case has rocked the intelligence world for several reasons. U.S. officials have been investigating Chinese dealings with the company for at least two years, according to an official who has been briefed on the case. President Donald Trump was personally advised about Jensen Huang’s vulnerability about a year ago, according to the New York Times. And Secretary of State Marco Rubio helped circulate an interagency warning about the case this past spring.
Why the slow roll? That’s the haunting question. Why wasn’t more done sooner to check what intelligence veterans tell me appears to have been a double-barreled Chinese intelligence exploitation of Alice Huang’s involvement with Jensen Huang? The evidence suggests the MSS was running both a supply-chain operation to obtain precious Nvidia chips and an influence operation to shape administration tech policy.
The closer you examine the case, the more puzzling the riddles become. Why did Trump continue his close relationship with Huang even after he was warned? Why wasn’t Huang given an FBI “defensive briefing” about his girlfriend’s intelligence ties if, as published reports say, he didn’t know about her MSS connection? Was Kash Patel’s FBI so busy with Trump’s political agenda that it failed to pursue Chinese spy operations aggressively?
Here’s the question that vexes CIA and FBI China hands: An intelligence investigation gathered information that a powerful friend of Trump was having an affair with a suspected Chinese agent, but the probe stalled. Why?
Trump is backing Jensen Huang in the spy scandal
Has it occurred to any of these “investigators” that the reason could be that Trump doesn’t want to stand up to China or Russia? Ignatius alludes to that fact:
Huang seemed to imagine that he was untouchable. More than a year ago, the New York Times published a photo of him with Alice Huang in a Taipei, Taiwan, bar in June 2024 and another of them together the following May at a Taipei trade show. Both photos had been posted on the internet. Nvidia was then selling advanced chips to a Singapore-based company named Megaspeed, where Alice Huang worked and which had been spun off from a Chinese gaming firm. But the alarm bells apparently didn’t ring in the Nvidia executive suite.
The public loves a good spy scandal, especially when it’s linked with sex. “Huang Huang Bang Bang” headlined the New York Post on Monday, after the Nvidia chief issued a public apology to his wife, family and company. But this one goes much deeper, because it involves artificial intelligence technology that is among America’s most precious national-security secrets, and a president who has pushed for closer ties with Chinese President Xi Jinping, whom he habitually describes as “my friend,” at a time when China poses a growing military and intelligence threat.
Trump also claims he doesn’t recall being warned a year ago. There’s more at the WaPo link. You can use the gift link to read the rest.
Exactly how Nvidia’s powerful chief, Jensen Huang, a married man and father of three, fell into the clutches of Alice Huang (no relation), a tech executive that U.S. intelligence identified last year as an agent of China’s MSS intelligence agency, has yet to be revealed. Nor has a coherent explanation from President Trump of why he continued to embrace the Nvidia boss long after U.S. intelligence came to suspect that Megaspeed, Alice Huang’s Singapore-based firm, was diverting restricted advanced AI chips to China. But if the affair goes to prove anything, it’s that—as Lawler said–even the most brilliant mind of a generation can lose its senses when targeted by a highly trained and sexy intelligence agent….
Imagine Alice Huang being left alone in Jensen’s bedroom with access to his phone and laptop, former China resident and expert Bill Bishop commented in his Sinocism Substack. “On the Jensen Huang-Alice Huang affair, you have to give the MSS credit for running another successful op. They are good and getting better…”
The Nvidia CEO “is (was?) text and phone buddies with President Trump,” Bishop added, “so if he divulged anything about his conversations with Trump to her, or his thoughts about Trump or chatter about China policy or frankly anything from Trump, that would be valuable to any foreign intelligence service, and especially to the MSS…”
“Alice was supposedly a media executive at Hunan TV and CCTV, but initial media checks reveal no such evidence,” Kenneth Decleva, a former State Department psychiatrist and intelligence analyst,” says. “And her social media including WeChat has been scrubbed. She has vanished. She will now be promoted by the MSS and further, honored by Xi.”
“Jensen and any company strategy/secrets have to be considered compromised until proven otherwise,” he added. “The FBI should seize his passport(s). He’s a huge flight risk.”
Please go read the whole thing. Trump is giving away our most valuable secrets.
Yesterday, KY Rep. Thomas Massie presented articles of impeachment against Pete Hegseth on the House floor. Unfortunately the effort failed, thanks to 11 Democrats who didn’t make it to work on time.
The House has voted 211 to 204 to refer the articles of impeachment filed against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to committee, effectively killing the impeachment effort spearheaded by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky.
Tuesday’s vote short-circuits any potential floor vote on the articles of impeachment, and virtually guarantees the measure will not be taken up before the current session of Congress expires.
Rep. Thomas Massie
The vote provided a surprise reprieve for President Trump’s embattled Defense Secretary, who was facing an impeachment vote by the full House as early as Wednesday.
Massie reintroduced the articles of impeachment on Monday, accusing Hegseth of high crimes and misdemeanors in connection to the war with Iran and U.S. strikes against Iran and on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean.
Massie’s impeachment resolution sought to oust Hegseth over the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro without congressional authorization, and the effort to punish Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., for a video telling service members they can refuse illegal orders.
The impeachment measure was Massie’s second attempt against Hegseth. He first sought to bring the impeachment resolution to the floor before the midterm elections, prompting Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to call an early recess to avoid the vote. That caused the resolution to expire, which is why Massie reintroduced the resolution again this week.
While the impeachment push may be quelled for now, Hegseth’s troubles on Capitol Hill are not over. Democrats have promised vigorous investigations into Hegseth’s Pentagon once they assume the majority in January.
House Republicans came together Tuesday to shelve a measure to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, thanks largely to almost a dozen Democrats failing to show up for the early evening vote.
Pete Hegseth
Some of the Democrats who did cast a vote did not even try to hide their frustration.
“The people send us here to do a job. I don’t know if anyone had any real health issues or anything significant. So I want to leave room for that,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-N.Y.) told CNN’s Manu Raju. “But that being said, at the end of the day, we’re here to do a job. And the same way I had to clock in when I worked at a restaurant, we got to clock in and do our work here.”
Some of the members missed the vote, which ended around 6 p.m. EST, due to gridlock on Pennsylvania Ave., caused by a traffic accident.
“Like other Members of Congress, Rep. Stansbury was blocked from entering the Capitol to vote due a traffic incident and a police escort of a bus during the vote,” Rep. Melanie Stansbury‘s (D-N.M.) office said in a statement on the social platform X. “When she reached the chamber, the vote had just gaveled out.”
“The Congresswoman was stuck behind a motorcade and missed the vote by 1 minute. She would have voted against the motion to refer,” Rep. Marilyn Strickland‘s (D-Wash.) chief of staff said….
The 11 Democrats who missed the vote were Stansbury, Strickland and Reps. Julia Brownley (Calif.) Lou Correa (Calif.), Laura Gillen (N.Y.), Steven Horsford (Nev.), Jonathan Jackson (Ill.), Nancy Pelosi, (Calif.), Brittany Pettersen (Colo.), Haley Stevens (Mich.) and Frederica Wilson (Fla.).
I don’t normally tell you to drop what you’re doing and watch a video. But tonight, I’m insisting.
My plan for the evening had been to write about the articles of impeachment against self-styled “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth and analyze the process we could expect going forward. Then, despite the absolute shellacking they took Tuesday night, Republicans voted to send the resolution brought by Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie to committee, a parliamentary device for burying it. “At least for now,” says my guest tonight, Representative Dan Goldman. Dan knows a thing or two about impeachment. Before his election to Congress, he served as the lead counsel for the House Intelligence Committee investigation that led to Donald Trump’s first impeachment. Senate Republicans ultimately declined to convict.
Dan Goldman
“At least for now” is the text balloon that hangs over all of this, as Democrats prepare to take control of both the House and the Senate in January. The articles include eight charges against Hegseth, including violating the War Powers Resolution of 1973, dismantling protections against civilian casualties, extrajudicial killings in the Caribbean and the Pacific, retaliating against Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona for participating with other members of Congress who made a video reminding service members of their duty to refuse unlawful orders, unauthorized military action in Venezuela, and conducting an unauthorized military campaign in Yemen.
You may recall that Senator Kelly was censured, threatened with military prosecution and loss of rank and pension for exercising his First Amendment rights. This morning, when Hegseth took to the podium to reiterate that he’d engage in the conduct the articles specify all over again, and was proud of it, NBC reports that “Two Pentagon officials, including a member of Hegseth’s security detail, approached reporters while they were waiting for him to appear at the lectern … They said that if any reporters behave in a manner that is ‘not professional’ or ‘get out of line’ or ‘get out of hand,’ they would be ‘physically removed’ from the room.” Hegseth doesn’t want you to know what he’s doing, which is precisely why we have a First Amendment. The allegations in the articles of impeachment, even though well known, are still shocking, at least in the sense that it’s shocking that the supposedly pro-military Republican Party would tolerate them—they’ve just set a precedent for what behavior is tolerable if a Hegseth-like figure arises during a Democratic administration (unlikely, since today’s Democrats aren’t hardwired like that). All of the conduct described in the articles of impeachment is awful, but the First Amendment allegations sting to the core of our democracy.
Today is Veterans Day, and Trump visited the hallowed cemetery today, but don’t expect him to learn anything from the experience. He is still fighting to build a “triumphal arch” that will interfere with views of Arlington Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial.
President Trump traveled to Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday to lay a wreath in honor of fallen service members, a time-honored presidential tradition on Veterans Day at a site that could be dramatically reshaped by his proposal to build a 250-foot triumphal arch in a traffic circle just outside the cemetery’s main entrance.
A common thread throughout the suits is the contention that the giant arch, which would loom over the nearly 640-acre military cemetery in Virginia, would have a negative effect on it.
The planned site of the arch holds “symbolic significance as the physical and ceremonial connection between Washington, D.C. and Arlington National Cemetery — the final resting place of more than 400,000 active-duty service members, veterans, and their family members,” Virginia and the District of Columbia contended in their joint lawsuit.
A view along Memorial Bridge toward Arlington Cemetery, which would be blocked by Mr. Trump’s planned arch. Credit Eric Lee for the NYT.
“For more than a century, that direct sight line has stood as a testament to the reunification of the nation after the Civil War and a point of reflection for visitors,” Arlington County said in a legal filing.
For months, Mr. Trump has vowed to push forward and celebrated the proposed arch as one of his grandest contributions to the city, dwarfing similar triumphal arches around the world. The administration has argued that aesthetic concerns about the area are not enough to win a federal lawsuit, and that various historical proposals for the bridge linking Virginia to Washington at the entrance to the cemetery included proposals for an arch built in the same corridor.
But as plans to break ground have accelerated, government bodies on both sides of the Potomac River have said the idea would bring unwelcome service interruptions to the region — and overshadow the solemn site.
On the Lincoln Memorial issue:
The arch would sit on an island in the Potomac River at the southwestern boundary of the District of Columbia, just across a 2,100-foot bridge. The bridge was designed to trace a vista to the Lincoln Memorial from the Robert E. Lee Memorial, also known as Arlington House, which sits atop a hill in the cemetery.
There’s much more information about the Arch battle at the gift link.
President Trump’s planned 250-foot triumphal arch has come under legal fire on multiple fronts: from veterans, a historian and the governments of the District of Columbia, Virginia and Arlington County.
Now comes another legal challenge, from the storied Kennedy family.
John F. Kennedy’s grave site with the eternnal flame.
Arguing that the arch, with its golden angels and flame on top, would cast a shadow on their relatives’ graves in Arlington National Cemetery, nine members of the Kennedy family moved to join existing litigation in Washington on Tuesday seeking to block the project. They also say the arch would obstruct the intended sightline from the eternal flame at President John F. Kennedy’s gravesite, “destroying an essential element of the gravesite’s design.”
Construction of the arch, one of Mr. Trump’s favorite projects, has been temporarily paused by a judge in another case. If allowed to proceed, it would rise between the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington National Cemetery. The filing claims that the placement would obstruct “a line of sight that was designed to represent the unification of the nation following the Civil War and that has existed for nearly a century.”
The arch “will permanently cast a shadow over plaintiffs’ parents’ graves and the graves of servicemen and -women who made the ultimate sacrifice for this country,” the filing added.
The plaintiffs are children or grandchildren of Senators Robert F. Kennedy and Edward M. Kennedy, the former president’s brothers, who are buried near him.
“A towering arch casting shadows across the graves of our father, mother and uncles, as well as the graves of so many who have served our country, would also cast a shadow over our democratic principles, undermining the safeguards established by our elected representatives to protect this hallowed ground for generations to come,” two of the plaintiffs, Rory Kennedy and Maxwell Kennedy, who are children of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Kennedy, said in a statement.
Read more at the gift link.
That’s all I have for today. What do you think? What else is on your mind?
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“I guess there could be worse things than two years of HGTV. John Buss, @repeat1968
Good Day, Sky Dancers!
Today there are a lot of new headlines about the Great Trump Grifters. Since that’s what essentially set the Blue Tsunami in motion, I thought it would be a good idea to see what the folks in investigative reporting were up to. It is, of course, mostly the independent media, not the legacy media, that are telling us where our taxes have gone over the last two years. To quote Warren Zevon, “It just ain’t pretty at all.” What we’re seeing now is how many people got around to taking the money and are now trying to run before investigations and hearings heat up.
Here’s one to think about from ProPublica, which should give a lot of the Congress Critters something to move on. “Firm Linked to Trump’s Sons Got Nearly $40 Million in Federal Contracts to Screen for Ebola and Other Diseases. XpresTest has years of experience conducting disease screening in U.S. airports but has never worked with Ebola or provided biosecurity services abroad. It’s “a new thing for us,” the company’s CEO said.” Sharon Lerner, Anna Maria Barry-Jester and Robert Faturechi share the lede.
The Trump administration awarded a small biosecurity company nearly $40 million to screen for Ebola and other infectious diseases just months after a firm linked to President Donald Trump’s elder sons invested in its parent company, according to records and interviews.
The contracts, one to screen for Ebola in several U.S. airports and the other to respond to disease outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of Congo, are seven times the total value of government contracts the company had directly received before.
The company, XpresTest, has years of experience monitoring for COVID-19 and other diseases for the government at U.S. airports. That makes its parent, XWELL, an unusual hybrid, selling both spa treatments and biosecurity services. Last year, it made most of its money from waxing salons and airport spas that offer manicures, massages and “chakra beds.”
The contracts are the latest example of the president’s family benefiting financially from his administration’s actions. And the stakes for these deals are particularly high. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, an Ebola outbreak has killed more than 5,000 people this year, and the federal government is trying to stop the pathogen from coming to the U.S.
XpresTest has never worked with Ebola or provided biosecurity services abroad, let alone in the kind of volatile locales it’s now expected to work in. The CEO of its parent company, Ezra Ernst, said XpresTest won both contracts in a competitive bidding process and pointed to its years of experience doing screening for COVID-19 and other pathogens at American airports. But even he acknowledged that working internationally is “a new thing for us” and expressed uncertainty about being able to complete the work in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“This is a risky contract. I’m not sure we can do it,” Ernst said in an interview.
Jeremy Konyndyk, who helped oversee the U.S. government’s response to a 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, said there are some parallels between monitoring for COVID-19 and Ebola at airports, but he said it’s concerning that the government would award such a lucrative contract to a company that has no experience in Africa.
“There are countless organizations in the world that have decades of experience doing this work,” Konyndyk said. “I have to wonder why the hell they’re not going with someone who has actually done this before.”
Under previous administrations, the U.S. government addressed international disease outbreaks in partnership with the World Health Organization. But Trump withdrew from the group last year, dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development, which handled much of this work, and dramatically scaled back the global presence of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Gee that all sounds pretty convenient and strange doesn’t it? Here’s the punchline, but do go read this very informative article at the link. Of course, the CDC said nothing but the team of investigative reporters did the work digging out the facts anyway. There is a lot more at the link.
A spokesperson for the president’s sons Donald Jr. and Eric Trump said that they are “merely passive, minority investors in a fund that invested in this company,” and that they had no “involvement in or knowledge regarding the negotiation or procurement of any of its contracts, including any government contracts.”
“Both are private citizens who hold no government positions, broken no laws and who have every right to pursue lawful business and investment opportunities,” the spokesperson said.
The Trump sons’ connection to XWELL was established in February, when a fund called American Ventures invested in the company. The fund was launched by Dominari Holdings, a small financial firm with offices inside Trump Tower in New York. The leaders of Dominari hired the Trump sons as advisers after their father was elected to a second term and granted them a stake of more than 10% in Dominari.
Ben Berkowitz, writing for AXIOS, has some of the down low on Trump’s relationship with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang. This is getting to be terrifically juicy story. “Trump backs Nvidia’s Huang amid affair, spy investigation.”
President Trump defended Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang on Sunday night, even as the company’s board launched an investigation into his affair with a suspected Chinese spy.
Why it matters: The blowback to Huang’s relationship is only getting more intense by the hour, with multiple members of Congress calling for probes and investors saying the news could put a cloud over the entire AI trade.
What they’re saying: Trump was asked Sunday night if he’s taking Huang with him on an Asia trip next week.
“I don’t know, but I’d certainly take him,” the president told reporters.
“I haven’t heard that he’s done anything wrong,” Trump added. “He dealt with somebody but, you know, so does everybody else.”
The intrigue: The New York Times reported in late October that Trump was briefed earlier this year about Huang’s relationship with the potential spy but chose not to act.
Huang has been one of Trump’s favorite corporate executives since his return to office, with Huang frequently appearing at White House events.
He also traveled with Trump to China earlier this year, even after the reported memo warning the president of Huang’s relationship.
What’s next: A group of House Republican committee chairs have asked Huang to agree by Nov. 11 to a date for a briefing on his relationship and Nvidia’s national security controls.
Here’s some information from that New York Times article from late October. There was a large team of reporters on this. The link is gifted. “Nvidia Chief Seen as Target of Chinese Spy Plot. A Chinese businesswoman who had a close relationship with Jensen Huang was found to be passing intelligence to Beijing. President Trump was briefed and took no action.” The oldest trick in the book
American spy agencies had gathered striking intelligence.
A top executive at a Singapore-based data center company was under scrutiny for possibly steering advanced Nvidia A.I. chips to China. And now American officials had concluded that she was a Chinese intelligence asset, funneling information to Beijing.
But what came next was even more alarming. Surveillance of the executive, Alice Huang or Huang Le, a Chinese citizen, revealed that she had developed a close relationship with Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s chief executive.
For years, Washington has worked to deny China the technology needed to match or surpass the United States in the intense global competition for superiority in artificial intelligence. The discovery that Beijing was getting reports from someone with direct access to Mr. Huang, one of the most powerful figures in the A.I. revolution as well as an influential ally of President Trump’s, set off alarms at the White House.
Roughly a year ago, Mr. Trump was briefed about the intelligence findings, which have not been previously reported, and chose not to do anything with the information. Mr. Trump has been wary of disrupting Nvidia’s chip sales, which are helping to drive the economy and the stock market, and of further complicating the trading relationship with China.
This account is based on interviews with people briefed on the surveillance, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the findings are drawn from classified intelligence, as well as other officials and industry executives and analysts.
You have to wonder what was in it for Trump to ignore the entire thing or if it was just his usual lack of interest in anything that’s not related to turning the White House into Liberace’s Dressing Room. However, this follow-up today by The New York Times, suggests there’s more intrigue we’ll discover soon. “Commerce Dept. Chip Inquiry Was Halted After Nvidia Intervention. An investigation into Megaspeed, a Singapore company that was buying advanced Nvidia A.I. chips, was transferred to the Justice Department after a top Nvidia executive reached out to Commerce Department officials.” Don’t you just love it when life mimics a John le Carré novel?
Investigators at the Commerce Department were deep into a monthslong investigation of a Singaporean company that they suspected of smuggling Nvidia’s artificial intelligence chips into China when their work came to a sudden halt late last year.
But the case was abruptly transferred to the Justice Department last year. The shift came after Commerce Department investigators working on the case received an email from Nvidia’s general counsel seeking information about the inquiry into Megaspeed.
It is not necessarily unusual for Commerce Department agents working on a case to speak with a company’s representatives about issues involving their firm. But what was unusual was the content of the message. Tim Teter, Nvidia’s general counsel, said that Jeff Kessler, a top official at the department, had given Nvidia permission to reach out about the case.
The agents were alarmed that Nvidia had invoked the name of Mr. Kessler, their superior, who was nominated to his role by President Trump. Some viewed Mr. Kessler’s interaction with Nvidia as violating government procedure and potentially tainting the case, according to current and former government officials and others familiar with the incident.
It is not clear what led to Mr. Teter’s outreach to the department, but the recent revelations about Mr. Huang’s acknowledged affair with a Megaspeed executive have only intensified scrutiny of Nvidia’s role in influencing policy on chip sales to China. The New York Times reported last month that the U.S. government had concluded that Huang Le, or Alice Huang, a top executive at the firm, was a spy working on behalf of the Chinese government.
On Sunday, Nvidia said it was opening an investigation into Mr. Huang, after he acknowledged to the company’s board that he had been intimate with Ms. Huang. The pair, who are not related, had been photographed together on multiple occasions, including at a bar and a restaurant in Taiwan alongside other tech executives.
So, I like the sounds of this interview, however, I just will believe it all when I see it. This is from CBS NEWS. “Hakeem Jeffries says Democrats are committed to “holding the crooks accountable” in new Congress.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who’s poised to become House Speaker in the new Congress following his party’s widespread gains in the midterm elections, said Monday that Democrats will focus “relentlessly” on addressing affordability in their majorities, while also setting their sights on combatting corruption.
“We’re committed to accountability and to holding the crooks accountable if you’ve been stealing from the American people, screwing over the American people or shortchanging the American people,” Jeffries said on “CBS Mornings.”
As the high cost of living became a key driver in the midterm elections, corruption has also invigorated voters at the ballot box. Roughly nine in 10 voters nationally said government corruption was a major factor in their vote, according to CBS News exit polling. And Democrats put the issue front and center in their final pitch to voters, who turned out overwhelmingly for the party, resulting in the House and Senate flipping control.
Now, as Democrats prepare to take control of Congress, they’re working to align priorities, amid concerns that investigations and possible impeachment efforts against the administration could detract from their ability to address affordability for voters.
Asked whether Democrats can address both cost-of-living and corruption concerns, Jeffries said, “Yes, and we have to.”
Jeffries said Democrats will “focus aggressively and relentlessly on dealing with the affordability crisis,” while also pursuing accountability. He said, “We’re going to follow the facts, apply the law, be guided by the Constitution, and then let the chips fall where they may.”
The New York Democrat linked the affordability issue to corruption concerns, just as a number of Democratic candidates did on the campaign trail, saying, as Americans have struggled with high prices, “we’ve seen unprecedented corruption unleashed on the American people.”
Additionally, Jeffries said this about Pete Hegseth as reported by The Guardian. “Hakeem Jeffries supports impeachment of Pete Hegseth: ‘He has got to go’. House Democrat is a ‘hard yes’ on impeachment resolution against defense secretary who ‘has abused his power’.”
House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries, poised to become majority leader, said on Sunday that he strongly supports impeaching defense secretary Pete Hegseth as a Republican lawmaker prepares to force a House vote.
The top Democrat made his position clear during an appearance on ABC’s This Week, declaring himself a “hard yes” on the impeachment resolution targeting Hegseth.
“I’m a hard yes on the Hegseth resolution. The so-called secretary of defense has abused his power, undermined our national security, and engineered this reckless and costly war of choice in Iran, which has skyrocketed prices on the American people and made the country less safe,” Jeffries said. “Pete Hegseth has got to go.”
The announcement comes as Kentucky Republican representative Thomas Massie, an outgoing congressman and frequent critic of Donald Trump, moves to revive his impeachment effort against Hegseth.
Massie said he plans to reintroduce an impeachment resolution as soon as Monday, potentially setting up a House showdown within days. The measure includes eight articles of impeachment accusing Hegseth of multiple offenses, including violating the War Powers Resolution of 1973.
Asked whether he expects the entire Democratic caucus to support the resolution, Jeffries said members will “have that conversation” Tuesday morning when lawmakers return to Washington for the first time since the midterm elections.
“But I believe there will be incredibly strong support for that resolution,” Jeffries said.
The mounting pressure on Hegseth follows Republican losses in the midterm elections, with both Trump and voters identifying the Iran war as a major factor in the party’s defeat.
More information at the link. I really hate to give time to Russ Douthat as well as Trump but the doozy of an explanation by Trump of the outrageous level of wealth increase by him during the past two years was actually righteously asked Trump about his corruption and net worth. This is from The New Republic. “Trump Crumbles Trying to Defend How Much Money He’s Made as President. Donald Trump couldn’t explain why he hadn’t divested of his businesses, among other things.” The Link has been gifted.
President Donald Trump had a tough time on CBS’s 60 Minutes trying to defend the massive increase in his wealth since the start of his second term.
In an interview that aired Sunday, interviewer Ross Douthat pointed out to the president that his net worth has gone up by $3 billion since January 2025, to which the president tried to argue that it was all because of his children. Trump then claimed that everyone’s wealth went up, prompting Douthat to note that he himself didn’t make $3 billion. Trump retorted, “You should have owned stock.”
“I devote almost no time to my net worth. I don’t care. I make, I have a lotta money, and far more than I ever thought I’d have. And I guess it’s gone up. I don’t even know. I have a son who’s a very straight, good guy. He watches over money. I don’t even talk to him about it. He watches. He gives, they gave my money, I have a lotta cash, have, had a lotta cash long before I came in here. I don’t take a salary, you know?” Trump said, trying to explain his newfound wealth.
Douthat also pointed out the apparent corruption from Trump’s cryptocurrency venture, World Liberty Financial, and how it took money from the United Arab Emirates. He pointed out that if President Joe Biden had done something similar, Trump would have called it corrupt. Trump tried to pin it all on his sons.
“I have, but you have sons where they go around and they build buildings. That’s what they do. That’s what I did long before I became president. I did it better than anybody. I was very good at real estate. I made a lotta money. But—but I have a company. My sons run the company. It’s hard to say to them, ‘Don’t do anything any more for four years because I’m president,’” Trump said.
In response to Douthat asking about outside forces who use Trump’s cryptocurrency for influence peddling, Trump tried to claim that every president has had a similar problem, “going back to George Washington.”
My goodness — Douthat landed knockout punches on Trump over his corruption
I don’t know how much of this well actually happen. We should see hearings but with the DOJ still under Trumps command, I’m not so sure they will be prosecuted withing whatever time limits exist. At least the information is out there for all to see! Anyway this was a story about Trump and Cronies.
What’s on your Reading, Action, and Blogging list today?
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Now that cartoon by Robert Leighton is spot on…especially when you consider the absolutely crazy ass shit Trump has done since the enormous pounding he received on Tuesday.
I see we’ve entered the “fuck everything” stage of things.
At the rate Trump is insane-posting, we're going to get a Truth Social post at 2 am announcing that he has asked Mayor McCheese to replace Marco Rubio as Secretary of State
Disgusting of NYT to describe the most criminal conduct of ICE and the massacre of boatmen on the high seas this way: “Mr. Miller has been the driver of the president’s most muscular actions” Muscular? Despicable spin. http://www.nytimes.com/2026/11/06/u…
Tiger-and Magpie Hojakdo, a traditional style of Korean folk painting, from the Joseon-period.
Trump’s elevation of Stephen Miller to Chief of Staff is dominating the news today. When I woke up this morning, it was almost the only story highlighted on Memeorandum.com. It certainly is a horrifying development, but I had assumed that Miller was already extremely influential in the White House. Perhaps Susie Wiles was more of a moderating force than I realized. In any case, Wiles is gone now and Miller has the top White House job. He also appears to be on friendly terms with First Lady Natalie Harp. He was seen hobnobbing with her as they made their way to Marine One on the way to Mar-a-Lago for the weekend. Here’s the latest on Miller elevation.
Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff, is departing her role days after catastrophic Republican midterm losses in a seismic staff shakeup at the White House. She will be replaced by Stephen Miller, a longtime aide to President Donald Trump who orchestrated his hardline immigration agenda.
The move is the first major personnel shuffling after the midterms, and came after Trump voiced fury at the strategy that led to Republicans decisively losing majorities in the House and Senate, people familiar with the matter said. And the president signaled Friday it will not be the last, telling CBS News “I do” when asked if he intended to fire people.
“I love my Cabinet. I think they’re good. But I’ll be doing maybe a few changes. I don’t want to mention who,” Trump said.
Yet the decision to elevate Miller — one of the most powerful and controversial engineers of Trump’s second term — to the top staff position in the West Wing is a sign the president does not intend to fundamentally change his governing approach.
Trump said Wiles would move to his political operation, adding that she “has done an outstanding job.” And as he departed the White House for an event in Florida Friday, he praised Miller.
“Stephen’s been great, and sometimes in life, you gotta make moves,” Trump told reporters shortly after announcing the staffing shakeup.
“Stephen’s been with me from beginning. He gets it, very good politically, and he’s a very good man,” he added.
I guess so, if you like Nazis who look like Nosferatu. More from the CNN story:
Trump, who initially appeared unfazed by the results of the Tuesday night midterms, has become angrier as he’s watched coverage of the historic losses, according to the people familiar with his response. That sour mood has spread throughout the West Wing, which has become increasingly factionalized in recent days. Aides have described a workplace filled with tension and infighting, likening it to the “knives out” days of Trump’s first term, and Wiles’ departure will likely accelerate the shift in the balance of power in his inner circle….
By Japanese artist Kanako Oguma
As it became clear the president was unhappy with her, Wiles decided to resign, believing he should be able to tap someone to lead his White House that had his confidence, according to a person familiar with her thinking. Wiles had always said she’d remain at the White House until the end of Trump’s second term. But the person familiar noted that Wiles had a tough year personally, given her cancer diagnosis and treatment, saying: “It wasn’t worth her staying in a job Trump was making clear he didn’t want her in.” [….]
Since the midterm wipeout, Trump had heard from several allies and associates who urged him to make changes to his senior staff in response to the losses, a source familiar with the matter said. But the move nonetheless came as a shock to many in the administration, and multiple White House officials told CNN it left them concerned about the rest of Trump’s second term.
“Susie keeps the trains running on time. I don’t know what this looks like moving forward,” one official said.
Another Trump ally called it a “catastrophic loss” for the president.
I guess we’ll have to see how much more influential Miller becomes in the new job. Wiles reportedly didn’t get deeply involved in political issues. Miller will obviously push for more cruel immigration policies.
On Friday, the president ousted his onetime close adviser, Susie Wiles, from the role of White House chief of staff, replacing her with Stephen Miller, his deputy chief of staff. More than any other top adviser, Mr. Miller encouraged an aggressive flexing of executive power when Mr. Trump returned to office.
Mr. Miller has been the driver of the president’s most muscular actions, including the use of increasingly hostile tactics to capture immigrants across the country and the bombing of small boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean that he and Mr. Trump declared constituted a foreign invasion.
The president’s choice sent a clear signal about the posture he intends to strike in his final two years in office and how little he intends to alter his approach in response to the most decisive political rout in half a century. He also put on center stage a figure who had already been a galvanizing target for Democrats intent on using their new powers in Congress to check the administration.
Adult mackerel tabby cat arching its back and hissing alongside a small kitten, created by Korean artist Hyejin
In a social media post, Mr. Miller praised Mr. Trump as “the most transformative political leader” in U.S. history, saying that he had “single-handedly saved America from those who would destroy it.”
“The mission now is more clear than ever: Fight with all of our soul to support our president and defend this magnificent Republic,” he added.
People close to Mr. Miller said he had shown no interest in compromising with congressional Democrats and was ready for a fight over subpoenas and investigations that are expected to emanate from the Hill. His top priority, they said, is rebuilding the fractured MAGA coalition and pursuing policies that will energize the voters who elected Mr. Trump in 2024.
“Stephen is and always has been the eternal flame of the MAGA movement — putting the president’s words and policy into action,” Hunter Morgen, who worked as a deputy to Mr. Miller during the president’s first term and is now a lobbyist at Ballard Partners, wrote in a text message….
While Ms. Wiles made clear she did not consider her job to be protecting the country from the president, as some of his first-term senior aides did, Mr. Miller is far more willing than she ever was to push legal boundaries.
Adam Gabbatt at The Guardian: Stephen Miller, Trump’s incoming chief of staff, pledges ‘total devotion’ to the president.
Stephen Miller, Donald Trump’s most controversial aide and the architect of his sweeping immigration crackdown, has lavished praise on the president after his appointment as White House chief of staff.
In his first public remarks since the move was announced, Miller – who begins the role on Monday – pledged “total devotion” to Trump amid concern the administration is now poised to double down on its far-right, nativist immigration agenda.
“If it wasn’t for President Trump the United States of America would not exist right now,” Miller, standing alongside his boss, declared at an event on Friday evening. “This man saved America. He saved our military from collapse. He saved our economy from destruction. He saved our border from annihilation. He saved our country from threats at home and abroad which would have been the end of the American dream for ever.”
Kawanabe Kyōsai (1831–1889) Cat with mouse
His appointment was unveiled after Americans punished Trump’s Republican party in this week’s US midterm elections, unleashing a blue wave that swept through parts of the country where Democrats have not won in decades.
As of Saturday morning, Republicans have lost seven seats in the Senate, and Democrats hold narrow leads in the two races – Alaska and Mississippi – that have yet to be called. Republicans have also lost 42 seats in the House of Representatives, and five governor races.
Despite this extraordinary array of losses nationwide – which senior Republicans including JD Vance have blamed on the Iran war and tariffs, key pillars of Trump’s agenda – Miller praised the president on Friday for having “saved the Republican party from the ash heap of history and has made it stronger, more popular and more resilient than ever before”.
Miller added: “It is the honor of my life to be President Trump’s chief of staff, and I swear to you, and I pledge to you, Mr President, my absolute loyalty, my unwavering commitment, and my total devotion to your success and the success of this country.” [….]
Miller’s appointment has been met with dismay by Democrats and some Republicans, with Marlin Stutzman, the Republican congressman from Indiana, describing the move as a “horrible decision” in comments to Politico.
Don Bacon, the outgoing Republican congressman from Nebraska, predicted that Miller will “have an antagonistic relationship with many”, telling CNN: “He cost us seats in Texas and Arizona by alienating many Hispanic voters who voted for Trump in 2024.”
In the days before MAGA’s midterm disaster, President Trump began complaining about his presidency. He felt stuck. The war in Iran wouldn’t end. Inflation wouldn’t subside. Little was going his way. But in the president’s mind, there was one exception: “Stephen is the only one who gets stuff done,” Trump repeatedly griped, a person close to the White House told us. “I need more people who get stuff done.”
Stephen Miller, one of the president’s hardest-charging and longest-serving aides, had managed to maintain Trump’s trust, even though he is the architect of the administration’s sweeping mass-deportation campaign that many in the GOP blame, in part, for the Republicans’ historic wipeout this week. Today, Trump announced that Miller would replace Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, completing his decade-long journey from congressional staffer to the most powerful aide in Washington.
Where Wiles served as something of a guardrail—making sure Trump was fully briefed and that he understood the risks and pitfalls of any decision—Miller has played the role of an accelerant for a president who already has rash tendencies. One issue on which Wiles and Miller seem to diverge: how to force journalists to reveal their sources in the government. Trump has pushed the Department of Justice to pursue criminal-leak investigations on national-security grounds, and there have been discussions in the White House and at DOJ about various tactics they could use—including arrests—as part of those efforts, according to three people familiar with the matter. Two of those people said that Wiles had pushed back. Miller, though, was in favor and insisted that it wouldn’t take long for journalists to give up their sources, they told us. A DOJ spokesperson told us via text that “this is absolutely false” but declined to elaborate. A White House spokesperson told us in a statement that unauthorized leaks will “NEVER be tolerated” and those responsible “must be held accountable.”
One person familiar with Trump’s decision to elevate Miller told us that the president wants somebody who “will crack skulls,” adding that Trump “doesn’t want to be reined in.” Another described Miller as someone with significant Capitol Hill experience who could manage the coming clashes with Democrats. White House officials have held high-level conversations in recent days, including with Miller, about areas where they can work with Democrats. But another person familiar with Trump’s thinking said there was no need for a chief of staff who could work the Hill to pass legislation, because nothing was going to get done. “The next two years are going to be nonstop political warfare,” this person told us—and Miller can be the face of that fight.
Cat and Yellow butterfly, Xu Beihong, Chinese artist
This is a very interesting article. I hope you’ll use the gift link to read the whole thing. Here’s just a bit more on Miller:
Miller has been with Trump from the beginning. He was an aide to Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama, who became the first senator to endorse Trump’s 2016 campaign. Before long, Miller was designing policy proposals—particularly those that reflected his hard-line immigration views—and sometimes appearing as a fiery warm-up act at Trump’s rallies. He co-authored the first term’s so-called Muslim ban, became known for his high-volume and belligerent TV interviews defending Trump, and was one of the few staffers to navigate the often-competing power centers in the dysfunctional West Wing. (In both terms, he has remained well liked by colleagues, who appreciate his straightforwardness and dry sense of humor.) Miller oversaw the writing of the speech that Trump delivered from the Ellipse on January 6, 2021, ahead of the Capitol insurrection, and his influence only grew during Trump’s four years out of power. Miller used that time to help write Project 2025, a playbook for Trump’s return to the White House that included a broad expansion of executive power.
At the core of Miller’s agenda was a sweeping deportation program. Masked ICE agents detained people in quiet neighborhoods and Home Depot parking lots, while Miller demanded that dramatic deportation quotas be met. Americans, polling showed, began to view the tactics as extreme, particularly after the killing of two Americans in Minneapolis early this year. Trump’s political team has privately blamed Miller’s aggressive immigration policy in part for the defeat on Tuesday, because violent ICE clashes and ethnic profiling on the streets have alienated both Latino voters and moderate independents.
Miller has already been operating as a de facto chief of staff for the Department of Homeland Security and the president’s mass-deportation campaign. He hosts conference calls six days a week with top officials from agencies across the government who are enlisted to help ICE with the crackdown. Officials who participate in the calls say that Miller often berates staff who disappoint him or lack the information he wants. The White House press office promised in a statement tonight that Miller “will continue to deliver historic successes for the American people.”
And there’s this:
Recently, Trump had begun telling people close to him that he was considering changing his immigration emphasis, recognizing that although voters supported his tough border-security stance, ICE’s brutal approach to rounding up undocumented immigrants, including those who are not criminals, was provoking a backlash. Trump had begun to hear from business owners about their employees being deported, along with the nannies and tutors of friends, and he was open to pivoting. Miller, as his chief of staff, will now directly oversee the policy debate, a shift from his role as the resident immigration hawk in the White House.
Immigration policy definitely won’t get kinder and gentler with Miller in charge.
Industries that rely heavily on immigrant labor decried President Donald Trump’s promotion of his chief architect of deportations on Friday, just days after millions of Americans signaled anger about such policies.
The elevation of Stephen Miller to chief of staff, starting Monday, left some leaders of groups representing the agriculture and construction sectors gobsmacked.
Byeon Sang-byeok, Japanese artist, mid-18th Century
“When I got a text message, ‘Hey, have you heard about Stephen Miller?,’ my first thought was: Thank goodness he was let go,” said Chris Herr, president of PennAg Industries Association, which represents farmers and pork and poultry producers. Many of his members helped propel Trump to victory in 2024 but have soured on the president, as some farmers reel from the loss of workers to immigration enforcement, he said.
“The wild card now is what is the president going to do?” Herr said. “Is he going to be engaged, or is the Stephen Miller policy going to rule the day?”
Last month, more than 40 farmers and agricultural industry groups wrote to Trump and congressional leaders, warning that the immigration crackdown was hitting the nation’s food supply, hurting farmers and risking higher grocery prices. The letter marked a strategy shift for an industry that had been reluctant to publicly criticize the immigration raids, preferring to lobby the administration behind the scenes. About 66 percent of the country’s farmworkers are foreign-born.
“Time will tell if Stephen Miller continues to wreck the economy, destroy families, tarnish the Republican political coalition and obliterate Trump’s legacy,” said Rebecca Shi, chief executive of the American Business Immigration Coalition, a bipartisan group that lobbies for immigration reform on Capitol Hill, which organized the letter.
For months, immigration raids have targeted construction sites across South Texas, resulting in significant project delays and labor shortages that helped deliver Democrats historic victories up and down the ballot in the Lone Star State this week.
There’s quite a bit more commentary on the Miller appointment from business people at the link, and none of it is positive.
Several Republican lawmakers are fuming over President Donald Trump’s elevation of Stephen Miller to be his chief of staff.
“Horrible decision,” Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind., told Fox News Digital on Friday after Trump announced his decision.
A Republican lawmaker who was granted anonymity to speak candidly said they were in “utter disbelief.”
Tensions were rising against Miller in the wake of Republicans’ terrible performance in Tuesday’s midterm elections. Multiple House Republicans who spoke with Fox News Digital just moments before his promotion said Miller, who spearheads Trump’s immigration policy, should be fired.
When later asked about his promotion, one House Republican who said Miller should be fired replied simply with a facepalm emoji….
The second GOP lawmaker told Fox News Digital that Miller ignored multiple warnings from House Republicans in the past, arguing that Trump’s immigration crackdown is what voters asked for.
Another Hojakdo Tiger and Magpie painting
“I’ve been in several group meetings where a lot of us have told him, ‘Your immigration enforcement policies are backfiring back home, our people are mad, our businesses are mad — even in deep red districts — and it is impacting not just the voters, but the donors, and everybody top to bottom,” that GOP lawmaker said. “But it looked to me like Stephen Miller was only after numbers … he would not listen to us.”
Other Republicans who spoke with Fox News Digital also criticized Miller but did not go as far as to say he should be fired.
“I think he’s greatly hurt the administration and cost us many seats on Tuesday,” retiring Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., told Fox News Digital before news of Miller’s promotion broke. “He took an immigration policy that favored the president 2:1 in the public, over-reached and made it 2:1 unfavorable.”
“Many Republicans don’t like him,” Bacon added when asked about his promotion.
President Donald Trump’s decision to make Stephen Miller the White House chief of staff followed a weeks-long lobbying effort from Katie Miller, his wife.
Katie Miller told people to call the president on her husband’s behalf if they believed that he was better than other potential successors to Susie Wiles, according to two people with direct knowledge of her role, who, like others in this story, spoke on condition of anonymity.
Some of the names Trump discussed privately over the last month were Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Steve Witkoff, the president’s special envoy, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Randy Levine, the president of the New York Yankees. Lee Zeldin and Sergio Gor were also floated, according to two people close to the White House.
One White House adviser, granted anonymity to speak about sensitive matters, said the prospect of Pulte in charge had alarmed many inside the administration…
Katie Miller’s persuasion campaign unfolded even as the White House furiously denied that Trump was considering replacing Susie Wiles….
Katie Miller’s advocacy in support of her husband intensified after the election. She made half a dozen calls to people close to Trump, including Scott Bessent and multiple people close to Vice President JD Vance, according to two people familiar with the calls.
Sorry to hit you with such a repulsive subject on the weekend. But we do need to know what we’re dealing with. Obviously, Trump is getting more delusional if he thinks listening to Stephen Miller will help him. I just hope he doesn’t put Miller in charge and focus full time on his decorating obsessions.
Take care everyone! At least we know we’ll have a Democratic Congress pretty soon.
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The Nvidia CEO “is (was?) text and phone buddies with President Trump,” Bishop added, “so if he divulged anything about his conversations with Trump to her, or his thoughts about Trump or chatter about China policy or frankly anything from Trump, that would be valuable to any foreign intelligence service, and especially to the MSS…”
Gee that all sounds pretty convenient and strange doesn’t it? Here’s the punchline, but do go read this very informative article at the link. Of course, the CDC said nothing but the team of investigative reporters did the work digging out the facts anyway. There is a lot more at the link.
Here’s some information from that
You have to wonder what was in it for Trump to ignore the entire thing or if it was just his usual lack of interest in anything that’s not related to turning the White House into Liberace’s Dressing Room. However, this follow-up today by 
So, I like the sounds of this interview, however, I just will believe it all when I see it. This is from 
More information at the link. I really hate to give time to Russ Douthat as well as Trump but the doozy of an explanation by Trump of the outrageous level of wealth increase by him during the past two years was actually righteously asked Trump about his corruption and net worth. This is from 
