Welcome to From the Politics Desk, a daily newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.

In today’s edition, we explore how Stephen Miller’s appointment as White House chief of staff is already making waves across Washington. Plus, Andrea Mitchell digs into the alleged spy scandal that’s ensnared a top tech CEO.

— Adam Wollner

Democrats are deeply skeptical Trump wants to work with them after Stephen Miller’s elevation

By Peter Nicholas

After the Republican drubbing in the midterm elections, President Donald Trump said he’s open to cutting a deal with Democrats on immigration and showing he can work cooperatively with the opposition.

But what Trump actually did was far more illustrative of what’s to come, as Democrats see it. Trump ousted Susie Wiles and installed as his new White House chief of staff Stephen Miller, the face of hard-line immigration enforcement and an operative who has swung a rhetorical cleaver at the party that will soon control Congress.

Miller won’t get a honeymoon from ascendant Democratic lawmakers whose party he likened last year to a “domestic extremist organization.” He’d need to shed the persona of an uncompromising Trump loyalist, and the early signs suggest he won’t, Democratic lawmakers told NBC News.

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who is expected to become House speaker when the new Congress convenes in January, called Miller a “stone-cold racist” in remarks to reporters Monday. Jeffries said he has “zero interest” in working with Miller.

A reporter asked if Miller can be a viable partner to Democrats.

“No,” Jeffries said. “Stephen Miller is a stone-cold racist. His track record speaks for itself. And I’ve got zero interest in working with that kind of individual.”

To that end: The country’s top 16 Latino advocacy organizations are calling on the next Congress to subpoena Miller to answer for Trump’s mass deportation actions, Natasha Korecki reports. They’re also asking Congress to freeze any new funding for ICE until there is transparency in how money has already been spent.

Friends in high places: Meanwhile, advocates of the “Make America Healthy Again” movement are enthusiastically embracing Miller as a new champion of their agenda in the White House, Aria Bendix writes. The group, which had been vocal about its disappointment with the Trump administration before the midterms, cheered Wiles’ exit.

Read more →

The alleged spy scandal shaking Washington and Silicon Valley

Analysis by Andrea Mitchell

It’s a Washington scandal that has the plot lines of pulp fiction: an alleged Chinese spy, exposed in a suspected romantic relationship with one of the world’s richest and most influential tech giants.

As the president of the United States expresses sympathy for his friend and business ally, rather than disappointment or condemnation, questions persist about who knew what and when.

The context is potentially even more damaging. Last year, Secretary of State and national security adviser Marco Rubio wrote a classified memo warning that Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang might be compromised by his friendship with a Chinese intelligence asset, according to The New York Times, citing multiple people briefed on the matter. The Times also reported that Rubio repeated that warning in May, en route to a Beijing summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Nevertheless, Huang was added to the corporate delegation traveling with President Donald Trump when Air Force One stopped to refuel in Alaska. He was also literally seated at the president’s right hand when Xi visited the White House last month.

Asked Monday if he’d read Rubio’s memo when he brought Huang to Beijing, Trump said, “They could have been mentioned. Certainly, it didn’t make much of an impact on me.” Trump also said during the same exchange: “No, I didn’t hear about it then, but a lot of people have heard about it, and Jensen totally denies that he had, he — I asked him today because I did speak to him today just to see if he’s feeling all right. … I asked him that question. ‘Did you have any idea that she was a spy?’ He said, ‘I had no idea that she was a spy,’ and I really believe him.”

There have apparently been U.S. suspicions about Huang’s alleged romantic partner, Alice Huang (no relation), for a while. A former Chinese state media reporter, she purchased a subsidiary of a Chinese video gaming company that she turned into Megaspeed International, a Singapore-based technology company. The Commerce Department began investigating Megaspeed at least a year ago over alleged backdoor shipments of Nvidia’s most prized advanced chips to Beijing — chips that the U.S. bans for sale to China under export controls.

Nvidia’s most powerful chips dominate the market for data centers that are essential for artificial intelligence in the U.S. and Southeast Asia. In addition to his company being a top donor to the White House ballroom, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post, Huang has become a key adviser to Trump on major AI policy decisions. This year, Huang led a successful campaign to push back against government regulation of AI, instead arguing for the industry to adopt voluntary practices to keep new models safe.

China has denounced the espionage allegations as a smear. Jensen Huang acknowledged being “unfaithful” to his wife over the weekend, but did not mention Alice Huang. Rubio has declined to comment on the scandal, nor has the White House explained Trump’s Monday statements that he did not recall being warned. Nvidia is investigating but asserted it does not believe any corporate or U.S. secrets were compromised. The company’s stock has also taken a hit this week.

Huang has no known succession plan in place in case action is taken to remove him from his hugely profitable company, with fears this scandal could even affect the U.S. economy, which has been heavily dependent on the AI boom.

That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner.

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