Hegseth Vote, Nvidia Spy Suit, and Veterans Day

Good morning. It's Wednesday, Nov. 11. The House shelved an impeachment push against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. First time reading? Join millions of insatiably curious readers. Sign up here.

Also in today's Digest: Nvidia's CEO sued over alleged spy ties (Need To Know), a "You've Got Mail" reboot (Sports, Ent., & Cult.), Anthropic pursues $1.4T valuation (Bus. & Mkts.), the House's Epstein report (Pol. & World Affairs), and much more. 

PS—Thank you to all of our veterans, active military personnel, and their families for your service and sacrifice—we hope everyone has a happy Veterans Day.

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 Need To Know 

Nvidia Investor Lawsuit

An Nvidia shareholder filed a class-action lawsuit this week, accusing the chipmaker and its CEO, Jensen Huang, of misleading investors by failing to disclose his affair with a suspected Chinese spy. 

Huang confirmed Sunday that he had an affair, which has been widely speculated to involve Singapore-based data center executive Alice Huang, whom a New York Times investigation suggested may be a Chinese spy (see previous write-up). The lawsuit alleges Nvidia misled shareholders by describing the pair's interactions as routine while failing to disclose potential national security concerns tied to its business with Alice Huang’s company, Megaspeed. A new report (free w/email) details how a top Nvidia executive intervened last year to halt a federal probe into whether Megaspeed was smuggling AI chips into China. Nvidia has reportedly sold Megaspeed more than $4.8B worth of chips over the past two years. 

Nvidia shares fell another 5.5% yesterday, bringing the roughly $4T company's market value losses to more than $365B since Monday.

Impeachment Bid Blocked

The House voted 211-204 to shelve Rep. Thomas Massie’s (R, KY-4) articles of impeachment against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. The move is expected to sideline the issue until Democrats take control of Congress next year.

Massie was the sole Republican to vote against referring the impeachment articles to committee. He had sought to impeach Hegseth on eight charges, several of which he characterized as violations of the War Powers Resolution of 1973. Many charges stemmed from the Iran war. One centered on the US campaign in Yemen, and another on strikes against alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. A separate charge was tied to the US mission to capture Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro. See the 34-page charging document here (scroll to “this link”).

Separately, House Republicans elected Rep. Jim Jordan (R, OH-4) to serve as minority leader in the next Congress. Senate Republicans reelected Sen. John Thune (R-SD) as party leader despite internal pushback over last week's electoral losses.

Historic Ship's Final Journey

The SS United States, once the world's fastest ocean liner, is scheduled to be sunk today off Florida's Gulf Coast, creating the world's largest artificial reef.

The 990-foot ship—roughly five city blocks long—will settle 180 feet underwater, about 22 nautical miles off Destin, where it could attract marine life and shelter fish (see how crews plan to sink it). Entering service in 1952, the vessel set a trans-Atlantic speed record on its maiden voyage, crossing the Atlantic in three days, 10 hours, and 40 minutes—a record that still stands for passenger liners. Designed by William Francis Gibbs with partial US military funding, the ship could be quickly converted to carry 14,000 troops, and its four 18-foot bronze propellers remained classified until the 1970s. Famous passengers included four US presidents, Marilyn Monroe, and Walt Disney. Retired in 1969, the vessel was purchased by Florida county officials for $1M in 2024.

See historical photos, including John and Jacqueline Kennedy aboard the liner in 1955.

 In The Know 

Science & Technology

> International experts convene to determine whether the US should lose its official designation as a nation that has eliminated measles; decision expected next week (More) | Scroll for toggle map of US measles and vaccination rates over time (More) 

> Twin NASA spacecraft complete unprecedented slingshot toward Mars using Earth's gravity and engine burns, are expected to reach the Red Planet in September 2027 to study solar wind (More) | Why is Mars so dry? Solar wind, maybe (More, w/video)

> Amazon's Ring, known for doorbell cameras, unveils flying drone and robot to patrol homes and businesses as part of new home security robotics division (More, w/photos and video) 

Business & Markets

> US stock markets close lower (S&P 500 -0.4%, Dow -0.3%, Nasdaq -0.7%) as hotter-than-expected inflation report shows Consumer Price Index climbed 0.4% in October, reinforcing investors' expectations of another interest rate hike in December (More) 

> Average gas prices fall below $4 for the first time since July, reaching about $3.98 per gallon as fuel stations switch from summer blends to cheaper winter blends (More) | Calculate how much gas for your holiday road trip will cost (More)

> Anthropic, the AI company behind the Claude chatbot, will seek a valuation of roughly $1.3T in its initial public offering (More) | Kids' clothing retailer The Children's Place files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, aims to keep business open (More)

Politics & World Affairs

> Republican-led House Oversight Committee criticizes the Justice Department for its handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case; finds no evidence President Donald Trump was implicated but urges DOJ investigation of other Epstein associates (More) | See the final report (More)

> UK police, working with the US, arrest a 41-year-old US Army soldier near Gloucester on allegations he spied for Russia (More) 

> Democratic Republic of Congo sentences 66 soldiers to death on charges including cowardice and mutiny after they allegedly fled from rebels, including Rwanda-backed M23 group (More) 

In-Depth

> Hallmark Holiday Magic

The Atlantic | Alexandra Petri. A journalist takes a summer trip to Canterbury, England, to work as an extra in one of Hallmark's 34 new Christmas movies. Then she gets promoted to a more prominent role: Lord Mayor of Canterbury. (Read) 

> Burying the Evidence

Longreads | Ashley Stimpson. Some 22 million Americans signed scrolls for a time capsule marking the nation's 200th birthday. Today, nobody knows where they are. Roughly 9 in 10 time capsules go missing, so why do we keep burying them? (Read) 

The history and significance of Veterans Day.

... and what's closed for today's federal holiday.

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Why is your cat meowing? It's demanding that you fix something.

NFL's latest viral star went rogue during a halftime corgi race.

How to watch "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving" for free.

Clickbait: Chicago's shiniest landmark gets a human bean push. 

Historybook: Nat Turner is hanged after organizing rebellion of enslaved people (1831); Armistice signed by Germany and Allies, ending World War I (1918); Armistice Day, now known as Veterans Day, observed for first time in the US (1919); American novelist Kurt Vonnegut born (1922); Demi Moore born (1962).