Trump backs Nvidia’s Jensen Huang and Republicans select new congressional leaders: Morning Rundown

Trump backs Nvidia’s Jensen Huang as the DOJ investigates his relationship with an alleged Chinese spy. House and Senate Republicans are set to elect new leaders after their midterms drubbing. And a study shows how the Iran war has affected global emissions.

Here’s what to know today.

Trump defends Jensen Huang as investigates Nvidia

Less than a day after tech company Nvidia said it launched an investigation into Jensen Huang’s extramarital affair with an alleged Chinese spy, President Donald Trump expressed his support for the embattled CEO as details emerged about a Commerce Department investigation that was abruptly paused.

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Trump said at an impromptu news conference yesterday that the FBI is now investigating Huang’s relationship with Alice Huang, the managing director of Singaporean tech company Megaspeed. The pair are not related. U.S. intelligence agencies now believe she is a Chinese spy. Trump said he called Huang “to see if he’s feeling all right,” and Huang told him “he had absolutely no idea that person was a spy.” Trump added, “I really believe him.”

Meanwhile, a person familiar with the matter said the Justice Department told the Commerce Department to pause its investigation into whether Megaspeed smuggled Nvidia’s AI chips into China. The DOJ’s request came after a Nvidia representative reached out to Commerce investigators, raising confusion about Nvidia’s involvement in the probe, the source said. Read our subscriber story for more about the Commerce Department’s investigation pause.

The Justice Department’s criminal investigation into Megaspeed also focuses on whether the company smuggled Nvidia’s AI chips into China, a source said. In addition, the probe is looking at people tied to the company, like Alice Huang, and at whether China recruited her to spy and assist the smuggling of AI chips into the country.

Here’s what else to know about the allegations.

 Republicans to choose new congressional leadership

House and Senate Republicans are set to select their leadership teams for the new Congress, a week after a blue wave led midterm defeats.

After House Speaker Mike Johnson said he wouldn’t stay on as the Republican leader, the race became a two-way contest between Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, who is also the founding chairman of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus. Scalise says he can unify factions of House Republicans, while Jordan, a former Oversight Committee chairman, said he’s best positioned to combat Democratic investigations of the Trump administration.

In the Senate, Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota is running for minority leader, and so far, no one has announced plans to oppose him. But a small group of Republicans have sought to delay the elections.

Who’s running for second- and third-in-command leadership roles.

More election news:

• For subscribers: NBC News’ chief data analyst Steve Kornacki analyzes the shift in Texas and what it could mean in 2028 in The Data Dive, a subscriber-exclusive newsletter on the numbers, trends and data shaping the biggest stories of the midterms.

• California voters rejected Proposition 40, which would have imposed a one-time tax on the state’s billionaires, dealing a blow to progressives.

• Trump is casting doubt on last week’s midterm results, days after saying he was “absolutely willing” to accept the Republican election losses.

More politics news:

• Outgoing Republican Rep. Thomas Massie reintroduced articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, accusing him of “waging the Iran war” despite no formal declaration or authorization, as well as charges related to U.S. strikes on alleged drug boats, the “kidnapping” of Venezuela’s president and “unlawful war in Yemen.” Trump said he would stand by Hegseth if he is impeached.

• The Supreme Court allowed Trump to move forward with border wall construction in the remote Big Bend region of Texas.

Inflation likely took a breather as fuel prices fell

October’s inflation report, set to be released this morning, is expected to show Americans may have gotten some relief from higher prices as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel prices eased. Economists predict the consumer price index will show an increase of 0.3% month-over-month, compared to 0.6% from August to September. Core inflation, which does not include food or energy prices, is expected to have risen 0.2%. There will not be a year-ago comparison because of last year’s government shutdown.

Inflation was a big factor in Democrats’ sweeping midterm victories last week and the October data is expected to reflect the strain on consumers. The average nationwide price for regular gasoline today fell below $4 per gallon for the first time since July 20, according to data from AAA, but prices are still significantly higher than before the Iran war. Trump has repeatedly played down the prospect of a renewed war with Iran and is pushing for progress between Russia and Ukraine in new trilateral talks that opened today in the United Arab Emirates. Still, gas prices remain up by more than 30% since the war with Iran started on February 28, and around 40% since the beginning of the year.

Here’s what else to know about inflation.

Staff Pick: Trump’s unwitting role in curbing emissions

The Trump administration is no fan of climate change action. It has canceled national climate reports and rolled back regulations that allow the EPA to regulate power plant and vehicle emissions. It pulled the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement in early 2026, leaving the nation alongside only Yemen, Iran and Libya as the only holdouts from world’s biggest international agreement to take climate action.

And yet, global emissions are projected to decrease this year, and the Trump administration played a major — if unintentional — role, according to new research. A study released in the journal Nature Climate Change projects a 0.4% decrease in global climate-warming emissions for 2026, largely due to the Iran war and its effects on energy markets.

As the world electrifies, climate researchers have been hoping that the world will soon reach peak emissions. For now, this is a “temporary” turnaround, Corinne Le Quéré, a professor of climate change science at the University of East Anglia, told me. But within a few years, though, global emissions could finally start plunging downward, Le Quéré said. — Evan Bush, science reporter

Read All About It

• The U.S. has moved military aircraft from an airbase in the U.K. amid threats from Iran. At least eight air refueling tankers and three Ospreys left the base in Suffolk, eastern England, yesterday, flight tracking data showed. Some of the tankers were relocated to airbases in Germany and Spain, with one moved to Scotland. The Ospreys were moved to a nearby base.
• The Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity at Ohio State University is being investigated after video circulated of two young men seemingly on fire.

• The College Football Playoff is expanding from 12 to 24 teams starting next season. Here’s how it’ll work.

• A California family is looking for an 8-year-old boy who was taken by ICE at a routine immigration check-in.

• The FDA is requiring GLP-1 drugmakers to add a label warning about the risk of a rare eye condition that can cause sudden blindness.

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