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Good afternoon. Every flight in America is grounded right now. A communications failure hit every air traffic control center in the country at once, leaving more than 3,000 planes circling in the air and thousands of travelers stranded. It’s only the second time since 9/11 that all departures nationwide have been stopped, and no one has said yet what caused it or how long it will last. I was supposed to be flying today, so like many of you, am watching closely and will update this as we get more information throughout the night. (The video is not about the ground stop, but rather about other major stories. I will update this article soon.) That alone would be the story of the week. But it isn’t the only one. The Nvidia spy scandal is turning into a full-blown national security emergency. We now know Trump was warned at least twice that the CEO of America’s most important AI company was involved with a suspected Chinese intelligence asset, and he did nothing. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is accused of slow-walking the crackdown for months, his own cabinet colleagues are pointing fingers at him, and his family’s firm has deep financial ties to Nvidia. On top of that, wholesale inflation just hit a four-year high, and Trump’s top economic adviser is heading for the exit. This is what accountability journalism is for. Big outlets will cover the headlines and move on, but I’m going to stay on this until Trump and Lutnick answer under oath. That means every hearing, every document and every follow-up. I can only do that because of you. I don’t have a network, a corporate owner or a billionaire behind me. This work is funded entirely by readers. If you’ve been reading for free, today is the day to become a paid subscriber. If you already are, thank you. Please forward this to someone who needs to know what’s really going on
Here’s the news: Every Flight in America Grounded as Air Traffic Control Communications Fail The FAA has grounded every flight at every U.S. airport after a communications failure hit the nation’s air traffic control system. The FAA issued the national ground stop Friday afternoon “due to extraordinary circumstance and reasons for safety,” Reuters reports. The agency first halted departures in Chicago over communications problems, then expanded the order nationwide, saying all departing traffic “should remain groundstopped until further notice.” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy confirmed the ground stop “following a communication issue impacting all Air Route Traffic Control Centers.” Duffy said FAA technicians are investigating, and he promised “immediate updates as we have them.” International flights will be handled case by case.
More than 7,000 flights have been delayed or canceled, and thousands of planes still in the air can’t land. Flightradar24 reported about 3,100 aircraft in the air headed for U.S. airports when the ground stop began. The FAA told flights already in the air to circle along set routes instead of landing, citing “equipment outages.” Passengers at airports around the country are reporting being stranded as delays pile up. This is only the second time since the Sept. 11 attacks that all departures nationwide have been halted, according to Reuters. The last time was in January 2023, when the FAA stopped all domestic departures for less than two hours. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin says there’s “no indication as of yet” that the nationwide ground stop was caused by an attack, but he isn’t ruling anything out. “It is just a telecommunication outage as of right now,” Mullin told reporters, insisting, “This is not another 9/11.” Asked to definitively rule out a cyberattack, he said, “We’re not ruling out anything.” Mullin said officials “are able to communicate at certain levels” but that the system is “overwhelmed,” and he praised Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy for “doing a phenomenal job in a crisis mode.” “Everybody that’s currently on a plane, we’re going to get you on the ground and we’re doing it in a safe manner,” he said, adding that there is “no reason to be concerned about your loved ones if they’re flying.” Asked whether the disruption could last days or weeks, Mullin said only that it’s “too early to tell.”
 The cause isn’t known yet, but the failure comes after years of warnings about the FAA’s aging air traffic control system. Congress approved $12.5 billion last year to fix the FAA’s outdated communications system. On Friday, the FAA and the White House asked Congress for another $30.1 billion to address other problems. Just last week, the FAA announced that the first digital air traffic control towers in the U.S. were up and running at smaller airports in Florida and Alaska. Those towers use cameras and digital screens to give controllers a 360-degree view, part of the administration’s push to modernize aviation infrastructure. There’s no indication that the new towers have anything to do with Friday’s outage. The outage is a major test for Duffy, who has been promoting the administration’s upgrades to the system. His post confirming the ground stop sat just below a video he pinned in September, promoting a “new air traffic management tool that saves YOU time, cuts back DELAYS, and makes your flying experience BETTER.” A failure that hit every one of the country’s Air Route Traffic Control Centers at once raises serious questions about how a single communications problem could shut down the whole system. It also comes a day after a massive Microsoft outage disrupted governments and businesses, though there’s no sign the two are connected. The FAA hasn’t said how long the ground stop will last. The story is still developing, and travelers should check with their airlines before heading to the airport.
The Nvidia Spy Scandal Is a National Security Emergency, and Trump and Lutnick Owe America Answers The Nvidia scandal has become an urgent national security crisis, because it goes straight to the heart of America’s AI race with China. Jensen Huang, who resigned as Nvidia’s CEO on Thursday, had a relationship with Alice Huang, a former Megaspeed executive. The New York Times reports that China’s Ministry of State Security recruited her to gather information on him and to influence his views on selling AI chips to Chinese firms. Megaspeed, a Singapore company and official Nvidia cloud partner, bought more than $4.8 billion worth of Nvidia chips over roughly two years and is suspected of helping funnel them to China. Huang sat on the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, which made him eligible for a security clearance, and investigators want to know whether he had access to classified information. Singapore barred Alice Huang in February after police found she gave officials inaccurate information and downplayed her role at Megaspeed. The Justice Department says it hasn’t concluded whether she’s a spy, and Trump’s AI adviser David Sacks claims “the spy narrative is collapsing.” But Matt Pottinger, Trump’s own former deputy national security adviser, warns that if she was channeling Nvidia chips to China while the administration looked the other way, it would be “a breathtaking breach of national security.”
 Trump was warned at least twice about Huang’s relationship and did nothing, and he has to explain why. The Times reports that the first warning came late last year, and the second came in May, when Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned Trump as he headed to China aboard Air Force One. Huang wasn’t originally invited on that trip, but he joined the delegation during a refueling stop in Alaska. Trump’s advisers say he was “blasé” about the national security implications, saw the episode “mainly through the lens of adultery” and viewed Nvidia as essentially too big to fail. Even after the scandal broke, Trump called Huang “an honorable guy,” said he didn’t regret sitting on the information and personally called him Tuesday to urge him to keep fighting for his job. At Huang’s urging, Trump had let Nvidia sell certain chips to China in exchange for 15%, and later 25%, of the revenue, and Nvidia pledged $25 million to Trump’s White House ballroom. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer is demanding a “full accounting” of what Trump knew, saying Americans “deserve to know that those at the highest levels of power are putting America first, not their bottom line or their personal friendships.” Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, whose department is supposed to keep sensitive U.S. technology away from China, is accused of slow-walking the crackdown. Lutnick received a classified intelligence memo about Huang’s relationship, Axios reports, yet Commerce repeatedly failed to act on export restrictions despite pressure from senior officials and from Trump himself. Administration sources told Axios that Lutnick spent months “undoing” efforts to hold Megaspeed accountable, and the company was never added to the entity list. On Friday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Treasury, Defense, State and the U.S. trade representative’s office had all “were in favor of putting Megaspeed on the entity list for months,” adding, “You will have to ask them about their internal processes.” Bloomberg reported that after Nvidia’s general counsel called a Commerce undersecretary about the Megaspeed probe, Commerce investigators “were muzzled,” and the case was later moved to the Justice Department. On May 14, days after Trump was warned, Commerce quietly cleared about 10 Chinese companies, including Alibaba and ByteDance, to buy Nvidia’s advanced H200 chips, though some of those approvals came before the intelligence memo. Three former Commerce officials told The Free Press they were sidelined or pushed out after drafting technology restrictions, though Commerce has called claims that Nvidia chilled its actions “false and reckless.”
 Lutnick also faces questions about his family’s firm, Cantor Fitzgerald, which has deep ties to Nvidia. Cantor, which Lutnick used to chair and his sons Brandon and Kyle now run, cut its reported Nvidia share count nearly in half between September 2025 and March 2026, according to a CNBC analysis of securities filings. That’s the same period when Lutnick was reportedly under pressure to crack down on Megaspeed. Cantor also helped arrange billions of dollars in financing for companies in Nvidia’s orbit, including a $3 billion bond deal for Nvidia partner IREN that priced on May 12, the day Trump left for China. “His conversations with his sons better be about publicly available information,” said Richard Painter, George W. Bush’s former chief White House ethics lawyer, adding that “the appearance doesn’t look great.” CNBC found no evidence that Lutnick shared nonpublic information with Cantor or that the firm’s business influenced his decisions, and Cantor says its Nvidia positions came from routine client transactions. But Democratic senators have already called for an ethics investigation, and Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Chris Coons are demanding that Lutnick preserve all records on Nvidia chip exports and the intelligence warnings. Congress is demanding answers, and Trump and Lutnick can’t dodge them much longer. Republican Sen. Tim Scott, chair of the Senate Banking Committee, has asked Huang and Lutnick to testify on Dec. 3 and says he’s prepared to subpoena Huang. NBC News reports that Lutnick has agreed to appear in December. The Republican chairs of the House Foreign Affairs, Intelligence and China committees have sent Huang a second request to appear, along with letters to Nvidia’s general counsel and a top Commerce official. “We need to know the full extent to which our national security has been put at risk,” wrote Reps. Brian Mast, Rick Crawford and John Moolenaar. Even Republicans are alarmed, with Sen. Josh Hawley saying of Beijing, “I’m worried about what they’ve gotten from him.” In January, Democrats take control of Congress and gain subpoena power to force the answers Trump and Lutnick have yet to give. As Pottinger and his co-author Liza Tobin warn, depending on what Congress finds, this “could wind up being the supreme scandal of this administration.”
Wholesale Inflation Hits a Four-Year High as Trump’s Top Economic Adviser Heads for the Exit Wholesale inflation jumped to its highest annual rate in nearly four years in October, a warning sign that more price hikes are coming. The producer price index rose 6.5% over the past year, the highest rate since November 2022, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data released Friday. Core wholesale prices, which leave out food and energy, rose 5%, matching a rate last seen in January 2023. The Iran war and the energy shock that followed have pushed gas and diesel prices sharply higher, and freight costs for the trucking industry are up nearly 25% from last year. Food prices rose 1.3% in October, the fastest monthly increase since July 2022, and wholesale prices for fresh and dry vegetables jumped 26.7% after a 30.7% leap in September. The AI boom is adding pressure too: prices for electronic components are up 31.7% from a year ago, the highest annual rate since records began in 1966. Economists warn that many of those costs will hit consumers early next year. “We’ve seen a lot of pass-through already in places like airfares,” Guggenheim Investments economist Matt Bush told CNN, but he said higher transportation and input costs might not reach consumers for another six to eight months. He said early next year is “when the majority of businesses do their annual price resets,” and with the energy shock dragging on for months, he expects many companies to pass on at least some of their higher costs. Lingering effects from tariffs on consumer goods are making the picture even worse. This report and October’s hotter-than-expected consumer inflation numbers are expected to push the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in early December, and Fed Governor Christopher Waller has suggested a half-point hike could be needed instead of the quarter point markets expect. “Lingering impacts from the spike in fuel prices could linger into 2027, warranting further tightening by the Fed,” Nationwide senior economist Ben Ayers warned. Trump’s top economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, is expected to leave the White House in the coming weeks, three people familiar with his plans told Semafor. Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, has reportedly been asking about jobs outside the administration since well before the midterms. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who could hold both jobs, and his counselor David Zervos are among those being considered to replace him. Hassett has been the public face of everything from the economic fallout of the Iran war to Trump’s campaign against former Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Semafor reports that his departure isn’t tied to the midterm results, but it’s the latest in a string of staffing changes, including Trump’s move to replace chief of staff Susie Wiles with Stephen Miller. People inside and close to the administration expect more departures as the year ends, with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick already in the crosshairs over his handling of AI chip export controls.
Other news: Russia struck a hospital in central Kyiv overnight, hours after Zelensky said restrictions on SpaceX’s Starshield system were making it harder for Ukraine to shoot down drones. A drone hit the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopedics at 3 a.m., near the Danish and Romanian embassies, injuring three people and forcing 30 patients to evacuate. “Targeting the wounded, that’s really low,” one witness said, adding, “Russia attacks everything.” Zelensky says Starshield, the military version of Elon Musk’s Starlink, which the Pentagon oversees, is having major disruptions again after an unexplained slowdown last month, letting some Russian drones get through. The White House hasn’t explained why the service has been throttled a second time, and the disruptions come as Trump appears to be pressuring Zelensky to give up territory to Putin. Russian strikes also knocked out power in 12 Ukrainian regions overnight, while Russia claimed it shot down nearly 1,200 Ukrainian drones. Europe will send a team of diplomats to the next round of Ukraine peace talks, as its leaders push to avoid being shut out of U.S.-led negotiations. European Council President António Costa said the team will include EU officials along with representatives from the U.K., France, Germany, Italy and Poland. “It’s essential to have a team and to speak with only one voice,” Costa said. After meeting Zelensky in Dublin, Jared Kushner said, “We cannot conclude this deal without the Europeans being at the table,” while the Kremlin mocked European leaders as squabbling “like spiders in a jar.” French President Emmanuel Macron warned, “Without Europeans, there is no support for Ukraine,” adding, “There is no more U.S. support.” With Trump set to meet Putin next week, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said European leaders fear another “Anchorage moment” and urged, “Please, no surprises.” The Supreme Court agreed Friday to decide whether Trump has the power to ban asylum claims at the southern border. The ban comes from a Jan. 20, 2025, proclamation that declared an “invasion” at the border and allows anyone who crosses without paperwork to be removed without a chance to claim asylum. A federal judge ruled it unlawful in July 2025 and an appeals court agreed in April, but the policy has stayed in effect while the case continues. Solicitor General D. John Sauer argues the president has “inherent and delegated powers to exclude aliens.” The ACLU says the president “may not invent by fiat a new removal system that eviscerates the protections Congress mandated by statute.” It’s the third major Trump immigration case before the court, and a ruling is due by the end of June. Justice Samuel Alito warned that Congress can “turn off the lights of the Supreme Court” by cutting off its funding, just days after Democrats won control of both chambers. Speaking at the Federalist Society’s convention Thursday night, Alito called the judiciary the “least dangerous” branch and said it is “vulnerable to the executive and to Congress.” He didn’t mention the midterms directly, but his remarks came a week after Democrats’ sweeping wins. Alito also complained that some lower-court judges have gone “far astray” with “very sweeping and unjustified orders” blocking presidential policies. Those fights have fueled the court’s emergency docket, where the Trump administration has won interim rulings allowing everything from immigration enforcement to construction of the White House ballroom. Alito compared the court to “a hand grenade,” calling it the least dangerous weapon “but that is not to say that is not dangerous.” New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani struck a deal with Trump to delay new SNAP rules for corner stores by 90 days. The Agriculture Department rules, which retailers had to meet by Nov. 4, require stores that accept SNAP to stock at least seven varieties in each staple food category: dairy, grains, protein, and fruits or vegetables. Mamdani said the rules threw “more than a million New Yorkers” and “tens of millions more across America” into “chaos.” Bodegas, convenience stores and small groceries make up roughly 70% of SNAP retailers, and advocates feared many would lose the ability to accept benefits. Mamdani said the extension came after talks with Trump and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and gives stores nationwide more time to comply. More than 100 bodega owners had contacted his office with concerns. Federal prosecutors added a terrorism charge against Cole Tomas Allen, the man accused of opening fire at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in April. Allen now faces five counts, including attempting to assassinate the president, and the new charge comes under a D.C. terrorism law. Prosecutors say he charged through a Secret Service checkpoint armed with a shotgun, a pistol, knives and “a significant amount of ammunition.” Trump and JD Vance were rushed off the stage at the Washington Hilton. Authorities allege that Allen scheduled emails to his family, friends and former employer explaining his actions. He has pleaded not guilty to the earlier charges, and his trial is set for Sept. 7, 2027. The son of former CIA Director John Brennan has been charged with transporting child sexual abuse material. Kyle Brennan, of Warrenton, Virginia, was charged after an FBI review of his phone found 88 images that appeared to show minors, according to a criminal complaint. The complaint says the investigation began in 2024 with a tip to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, and Virginia authorities searched his home in July 2024. The case was referred to the FBI last month and began independently of the Justice Department’s investigation of his father. John Brennan, a longtime Trump critic, is being investigated over whether officials violated Trump’s civil rights, but that probe has stalled, no charges have been filed and he denies wrongdoing. Kyle Brennan is under arrest, and it wasn’t immediately clear whether he has a lawyer. A tanker slammed into a riverboat carrying nearly 130 passengers in New Orleans on Friday, capsizing it and setting off a major rescue on the Mississippi River. The American Heritage, run by American Cruise Lines, was T-boned while docked near the French Quarter around 12:30 p.m. local time. Video verified by NBC News shows people in life jackets in the water, and it wasn’t immediately clear whether everyone was accounted for. “After the initial crash, it hit us again and we flipped over and I had to crawl over the railing and people to save myself,” passenger Rhonda Akers said, adding that her husband was hospitalized with a head injury. The tanker, Atlantic Asphalt, is based in the Marshall Islands and owned by Chinese and Liberian companies, and the Coast Guard has closed a three-mile stretch of the river. Trump has been briefed, and Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry is heading to New Orleans.
 Microsoft’s outage appears to be largely over after it disrupted companies, schools and local governments across the U.S. The outage began around 1 p.m. ET Thursday and hit everything from sheriff’s departments in Colorado and Los Angeles to a Maryland water utility and school districts in Virginia and New York. Congressional staffers said it disrupted end-of-year negotiations during the lame-duck session, and one asked, “Shall we start conducting all official business via DM?” Microsoft executive Charles Lamanna said “there is no indication this is the result of malicious or cyber activity.” By the end of Friday, schools and businesses were coming back online, and the Colorado jail said it could process online bond payments again. Microsoft has promised a full report on the cause. A Florida city canceled its 60-year-old St. Patrick’s Day parade, along with its Pride celebration, citing a new anti-DEI law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Delray Beach said the law, which takes effect Jan. 1, legally prohibits the city from “organizing, funding, or promoting these events in 2027.” The law bars local governments from using taxpayer money on events that celebrate “ethnicity.” DeSantis’ office accused the city of “malicious compliance,” saying the cancellation is “not mandated by Florida law.” After a backlash, Mayor Tom Carney, a Republican of Irish descent, said the city is “working feverishly” to save the parade. He didn’t say whether the city would try to save the Pride celebration. Alex Murdaugh’s lawyers are asking a judge to throw out his murder indictments, saying the lead investigator lied to the grand jury. Murdaugh faces an April retrial after the South Carolina Supreme Court overturned his convictions, ruling that a court clerk had improperly influenced jurors. His lawyers say state agent David Owen falsely told grand jurors that blood spatter was found on Murdaugh’s T-shirt, even though an earlier report found no blood stains. They also say Owen wrongly claimed that the ammunition used to kill Paul Murdaugh was found loaded in guns all over the property. Prosecutors say they have plenty of other evidence and that “a single mistake is not bad faith.” Even if the judge agrees with the defense, prosecutors could quickly seek new indictments, so the retrial may not be delayed. London police have opened a sex offense investigation into comedian and children’s author David Walliams. The Metropolitan Police said it received several allegations of past abuse after a joint investigation by ITV News and The Guardian reported that he used his fame to groom girls and young women. One woman said Walliams sexually assaulted her at his home when she was 15. Walliams, 55, denies the allegations, saying he hasn’t broken any laws and isn’t a sexual predator. The “Little Britain” star, whose children’s books have sold more than 60 million copies, was dropped by his publisher last year and has now been cut from an upcoming film. The allegations surfaced a day after comedian Russell Brand was sentenced to 10½ years in prison for rape and sexual assault. As AI sweeps through Hollywood, this year’s Oscar hopefuls are making the case for human craft. Universal’s awards campaign for Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” highlights its handmade production, from 5,300 handmade costumes to sound recorded aboard a 115-foot wooden Viking ship. Other contenders are doing the same: “Project Hail Mary” is touting practical sets, Olivia Wilde paid to shoot “The Invite” on 35 mm film, and Denis Villeneuve describes the “artisanal” way he shot “Dune: Part III.” The push comes as studio consolidation and cost-cutting make AI adoption feel inevitable to many in the industry. Skydance’s David Ellison doubled down on AI during the company’s first post-merger earnings call this week. “I don’t know how long we’re gonna get to make movies this way,” Matt Damon says in a new documentary about “The Odyssey.”
See you soon. — Aaron
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