US Treasury Secretary Bessent publicly accused Commerce Secretary Lutnick of not placing AI company Megaspeed on the blacklist

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in a CNBC interview, publicly blamed Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick over the government's failure to place AI company Megaspeed on the blacklist, saying the Treasury Department "had been pushing for this for months" but that "the pen is with the Commerce Department." This is the latest criticism from within the same camp that Lutnick has faced over the Commerce Department's controls on AI chip exports. After news emerged of an extramarital affair between former Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and a Megaspeed executive suspected of being a Chinese spy, Lutnick this week agreed to testify before Congress. The scrutiny has raised questions about Lutnick's job security, but many Republicans are still publicly defending him, with a person close to the White House telling Semafor, "This guy has nine lives—how many are left?"