GOP Sen. Banks: Lutnick Needs to Testify, I Think He 'Defied' Trump Directive on China, High-End Chips

On Thursday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “Kudlow,” Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) stated that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Under Secretary for Industry and Security Jeffrey Kessler should testify before Congress because “they exploited loopholes, and I believe they defied President Trump’s directive not to sell these high-end chips to China or to allow them to be sold to Chinese customers.”

Banks said, “I also want Secretary Lutnick and Jeffrey Kessler with BIS to come testify before the Senate Banking Committee, because they exploited loopholes, and I believe they defied President Trump’s directive not to sell these high-end chips to China or to allow them to be sold to Chinese customers. That ended up happening anyway. So, I have spoken with Chairman Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and Ranking Member Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who’s about to become the chairwoman of the Senate Banking Committee that I’m a member of. Let’s get Secretary Lutnick and Jeffrey Kessler before the committee ASAP.”

Banks added that we need to investigate to find out “Why did the Secretary of Commerce and the Department of Commerce, allow for loopholes to occur, to allow these chips to be sold to Chinese customers?”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett