Updated November 9, 2026 at 6:50 PM AST
Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, who won his bid for reelection last Tuesday, is laying out several priorities for his party as he heads into his fourth term in the U.S. Senate.
Coons, who is the incoming chair of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, told Morning Edition that his list of priorities includes investigating the relationship between the Trump administration, foreign spies and AI billionaires, pointing to weekend reports about the Nvidia CEO's intimate relationship with a woman U.S. intelligence suspected of being a Chinese spy.
Nvidia, the market leader in artificial intelligence chip design and architecture, says it is launching an internal investigation into CEO Jensen Huang. Recent reporting by The New York Times alleges that Huang was the target of a Chinese intelligence operation that sought to send advanced Nvidia chips to China.
NPR has not independently confirmed the reporting.
Coons said he thinks there is a real likelihood that American national security has been compromised as a result.
"I'm not interested in investigating people just because I don't like them," Coons said. "I want to investigate them because I suspect they've put our national security at risk, they've been breaking the law and lying to the American people."
He also pointed to other instances of tech billionaires having "way too much power and control." Coons specifically cited Elon Musk's involvement in the Starlink slowdown in Ukraine.
"We need to figure out who's really got their hand on the wheel," Coons added.
While speaking with NPR's Leila Fadel, Coons also discussed how Democrats will try to work with President Trump once the party takes control of Congress in January, the potential impeachment of Pete Hegseth and his thoughts on America's future Senate leaders.
Listen to the full interview by clicking the blue play button above.
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