It's Thursday, the 12th of November. Welcome to the PDB afternoon bulletin. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is no longer the Nvidia CEO. His resignation comes amid new revelations in a widening scandal, while commerce secretary Howard Ludnick faces accusations of repeatedly defying President Trump's orders to crack down on the company at the center of a suspected Chinese espionage operation. Later in the show, Ukraine reportedly strikes a Russian missile warship in the Baltic Sea, just miles from NATO territory, as the expanding drone war puts neighboring countries on alert again. But first, today's afternoon spotlight. The scandal surrounding Jensen Huang has now cost him his CEO position at Nvidia. Following revelations of a second alleged affair this time, involving an executive who reported directly to him. He might have survived sleeping with a Chinese intelligence asset, but not with an employee. Now the fallout is reaching Washington, where commerce secretary Howard Ludnick reportedly stole the crack down on the company at the center of the suspected Chinese spy operation. Nvidia's board announced today that Huang is stepping down immediately as President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director. The company's Chief Financial Officer will take over as interim CEO. The latest allegations involve Kimberly Powell in video's Vice President of Healthcare, the New York Times, citing five people who worked at the company, reported that she and Huang had an extramarital relationship. Huang, whose 63 years old and Powell 48, were reportedly seen being affectionate, at a San Jose hotel during an Nvidia conference back in March. It's always those company conferences. Three people, briefed on the incident, said a bystander recorded them on a phone. Huang's security workers then took that person aside and asked him to sign a non-disclosure agreement. I wonder what that cost. That alleged relationship is separate from the suspected Chinese intelligence operation we've been following here on the PDB, involving Alice Huang, a mega speed employee, believed by US intelligence, to be a Chinese agent. Mega speed is also where this story leads into the Trump administration. Officials in the administration had been working to restrict the company's access to American technology because they suspected it of diverting Nvidia chips to China illegally. Secretary Lutnik reportedly resisted those efforts, wanting that a crackdown could trigger a trade war with Beijing. But according to Axios, which spoke with six high-level sources briefed on or directly familiar with the discussions, Trump had already given his approval to the effort to restrict access, not once, but three times this year, reportedly in May, August and again just last week. Now to understand how this became a confrontation inside the White House, let's go back to May of this year. Trump and other officials received a highly classified member, warning about Huang's relationship with Alice Huang, the alleged Chinese intel asset. At a subsequent meeting, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Director of National Intelligence, DNIJ Clayton, Secretary of Defense Pete Hagset, and White House officials pressed Lutnik and commerce under Secretary Jeffrey Kessler to act. A source told Axios that the two were refusing. By last Thursday, the disagreement had reached the White House situation room. Lutnik met with Bessent, Hagset, Trade Representative Jamison Greer, and Marco Rubio, who serves as both Secretary of State and National Security Adviser, he's multitasking. There, Bessent pressed Lutnik directly, on why commerce resisted implementing restrictions, particularly against mega-speed, the other officials backed Bessent according to Axios. Now, Lutnik appeared to agree, but then added, quote, "I need to check with the president," and that was precisely what worried the officials in the room. One accused Lutnik of, quote, "stalling it out," saying he had previously met privately with Trump to change the president's mind. This time, someone responded, quote, "great. Why don't we do it today?" Around five that afternoon, the group headed to the Oval Office to put the matter before Trump. Trump reportedly called SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, who backed the arguments for imposing the controls. Now, there's no word on whether Quang's relationship with the alleged Chinese spy was disclosed to Musk as part of that conversation. Lutnik remained opposed, warning that the move could start a trade war with China. According to the source of this story, the other officials pushed back. The source said they argued that China was already taking the kinds of actions that Lutnik warned would follow American restrictions. With Lutnik the lone holdout, Trump ultimately made the call to move forward with the restrictions. Theoretically, that should have been the end of it. But the disagreement again followed them out of the Oval Office. Lutnik said he would develop options and return with them. One source described the response from Bessons, Rubio, Greer, and Hegseth, as, quote, "No, the decisions been made, go executed," end, quote. As it stands, the White House says, given the instruction, "But commerce reportedly still hasn't acted. We'll keep an eye on this." All right, coming up next, a Russian warship is reportedly hit by Ukrainian drones in the Baltic Sea, just miles from two NATO countries. I'll be right back. Hey, even like Baker here, with another holiday shopping tip for, well, holiday shoppers. How about we talk about getting a gift that people will actually use? And of course, here I'm talking about Brunt Workwear, that's Brunt BRUNT. 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Quill's 24/7 AI agent handles it all, answering questions, taking down details, even sending links to book appointments. Plus Quill integrates into tools like Chatchee BT, Quad, HubSpot and Zapier so your entire workflow stays organized. Money is on the line. Always say hello with Quill. Try Quill for free. Plus get 20% off your first six months when you go to Quill.com/PDB. Welcome back to the afternoon bulletin. Ukraine says it struck a Russian warship in the Baltic Sea, bringing its expanding drone campaign against Moscow to within just a few dozen miles of NATO territory. And while the extent of the damage remains unclear, officials in Finland and Estonia have independently confirmed an incident involving a Russian naval vessel in the Gulf of Finland. According to Ukraine's security service, the SPU, and its forces targeted the narrow Fomensk Russian missile Corvette, belonging to the Baltic fleet. The operation, to reportedly took place early Wednesday during the same wave of Ukrainian drone attacks that struck Russian oil infrastructure at the Baltic port of Usluga. Ukrainian officials say the warship was deliberately selected as a target, although they haven't disclosed precisely how the attack was carried out. But we now have independent accounts from two neighboring NATO countries that support at least part of Kiev's account. Estonia Defense Minister Martin Haram said his country's military detected an explosion aboard a Russian Baltic Fleet vessel at approximately 530 Wednesday morning. Smoke was in observed rising from the ship, which subsequently turned around and headed towards St. Petersburg. Haram cautioned that Estonian officials couldn't determine whether the explosion was caused by a Ukrainian attack or an accident. Finland also detected the incident. According to the Finnish public broadcaster, a senior government official confirmed that the attack occurred near Goglund Island, that's a Russian controlled island in the Gulf of Finland. The location is particularly sensitive, Gauglin sits approximately 25 miles.
miles from Finland and 34 miles from Estonia, both members of course of NATO, and Russia has developed military facilities on the island, including radar installations and infrastructure supporting helicopter operations. So we're talking about a Ukrainian operation, apparently targeting a Russian naval asset in a relatively narrow stretch of water, surrounded by NATO territory. As for the ship itself, the narrow for Minsk is a Boojan M-class missile corvette, that's one of Russia's newer, small warships, it's approximately 240 feet long, and displaces around 850 tons, and that makes it considerably smaller than a conventional destroyer. The vessel is equipped with an eight-cell vertical launch system, capable of firing caliber cruise missiles. Those are the same types of weapons Russia has used extensively, the strike Ukrainian military installations, energy facilities, and other targets throughout the war. The corvette was launched in 2022 and entered service with Russia's Baltic fleet the following year. And while there's no indication that it was preparing to launch missiles against Ukraine when the attack occurred, its weapons capability makes it a potentially valuable military target. Now, as I mentioned, this operation unfolded alongside the Ukrainian strikes on Russia's Ust-Luga port, which we covered yesterday here on the PDB. That attack caused fires at one of Moscow's major Baltic export facilities, with Ukrainian officials claiming damage to multiple oil storage tanks and other infrastructure. But the drone offensive also created problems for neighboring NATO countries. Estonia says Ukrainian drones briefly entered its airspace from two directions during the overnight operation. One crossed into Estonia from Latvia around 3.30 in the morning before continuing toward Russia, other drones reportedly entered Estonian airspace over the Gulf of Finland. NATO fighter aircraft were already airborne monitoring the situation, but they did not shoot down the drones. According to the Estonian Defense Minister, some of the aircraft were operating so close to Russian territory that attempting an interception could have risked firing across the border into Russia. Finland also temporarily restricted air and maritime traffic in the eastern Gulf of Finland, just as a precaution. Those restrictions have since been lifted and finished officials say there's no immediate military threat to the country. Nevertheless, the incidents illustrate a growing complication for NATO. As Ukrainian drones ventured farther into Russian territory, they're increasingly operating near the borders and airspace of countries that aren't directly involved in the fighting. That creates some difficult decisions for NATO commanders, particularly when an unidentified drone crosses into Allied airspace while an attack is underway just across the border. As for the narrow-from-insk, the actual damage remains unknown. Ukrainian military channels have circulated unconfirmed reports of possible Russian casualties, but neither Finnish nor Estonian authorities have verified those claims. And the fact that the vessel reportedly departed the area under its own power suggests it was not seriously disabled. Still, the reported attack represents another expansion of Ukraine's campaign against Russian assets far from the frontlines. And that, my friends, is the PDB afternoon bulletin for Thursday 12th of November. If you have any questions or comments and I hope you do, just reach out to me at
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