GEOFF BENNETT: As Democrats prepare to take control of Congress, Delaware Senator Chris Coons is poised to become chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

A staunch supporter of Ukraine and a critic of President Trump's war with Iran, Coons comes to the role at a consequential moment for American foreign policy.

And Senator Coons joins us now.

Welcome back to the program.

SEN.

CHRIS COONS (D-DE): Thank you, Geoff.

Great to be on with you again.

GEOFF BENNETT: So, as we said, you are set to chair Senate Foreign Relations with the U.S.

at war with Iran, with Russia's war in Ukraine continuing.

There is growing national concern over artificial intelligence.

As Democrats prepare to take control of Congress, what are your top foreign policy priorities?

And where do you most want to change the administration's course?

SEN.

CHRIS COONS: So, Geoff, as I was campaigning up and down the state of Delaware in the last few months, I heard over and over that folks' top concern was their costs.

And when I asked, why do you think your costs have gone too high, they would say Trump's tariff war with Canada and Trump's illegal or immoral war against Iran.

I heard that over and over from voters.

So finding a way that we can deliver on that to lower their costs by repealing Trump's tariffs, by ending the war in Iran, by improving wages and the way that wages are growing and rebuilding our alliances globally will be among the top priorities for me.

As has recently been covered, there is an intersection between corruption in the Trump White House and this latest scandal involving AI.

The Trump White House was in bed with Nvidia, the largest, most important chip manufacturing company that makes advanced AI chips, and the CEO of Nvidia was in bed with a Chinese spy.

Despite hearing that months ago, leaders in the Trump administration failed to warn that this was an urgent national security issue.

So, to me, we need to both have some oversight and investigations about recent developments in Nvidia and China and AI, actions by Elon Musk to control whether or not Ukraine can defend itself using his Starlink system, and we have to knock down the tariffs that have raised people's costs.

GEOFF BENNETT: On Nvidia, The Wall Street Journal is reporting exclusively tonight that Nvidia's board is preparing to oust the CEO, Jensen Huang, over what are now two reported affairs, one with an employee and the one that you mentioned with the suspected Chinese spy.

Nvidia, as you know, the it's central to the AI economy.

Huang is practically synonymous with that company.

Given how much is riding on Nvidia's success, how concerned are you about the fallout and the disruption to the broader economy?

SEN.

CHRIS COONS: I'm concerned.

Frankly, the reason we have continued to have a strong stock market and, to the extent there's been a strong economy, it's all rested on huge investments in AI data centers and in the future of the AI economy.

The underlying American economy has been quite weak.

In fact, some have argued it's in a recession, except for the investments in AI.So the central role that Nvidia and Nvidia designed and manufactured chips play is a core concern for me, in particular the urgency of putting limits on exporting Nvidia's chips to China.

I have a bipartisan bill with Senator Ricketts that would put guardrails on those exports.

It is called the SAFE Chips Act.

And part of what is so concerning to me about these recent allegations about Nvidia -- look, I'm not that interested in the salacious details of the private life of the CEO of Nvidia.

I'm very interested in why credible reports of a national security threat were not acted on, and Jensen Huang was allowed to continue advocating for the export to China of some of his most advanced chips, in particular to the company represented by the Chinese spy.

GEOFF BENNETT: I want to ask you about this effort to impeach Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, which failed yesterday in the House.

Should Democrats revive that effort when you take control of both chambers next year?

SEN.

CHRIS COONS: Look, Geoff, my hope is that President Trump will read the tea leaves, recognize that Secretary Hegseth, more than anyone, is responsible for giving him bad advice about the war in Iran and the current situation we find ourselves in, with no easy or positive way to get out of the war with Iran, and fire him and replace him.

I do think that there will be another effort in the House to impeach and remove Secretary Hegseth.

But, frankly, what would be best for our country is to just move on to new leadership.

Secretary Hegseth has fired dozens of senior flag-rank officers across the Pentagon with no justification or explanation in a way that has demoralized and weakened the senior ranks of the American military at exactly the moment when we can least afford that.

I think it's time for those firings to move to the secretary level and for Trump to find a next secretary of defense who can be confirmed by the Senate.

GEOFF BENNETT: Speaking of new leadership, I want to ask you about your party's own leadership.

The midterms delivered this overwhelming vote for change, and you have senators as far apart ideologically as Bernie Sanders and Elissa Slotkin Democrats, obviously, both calling for Chuck Schumer to step aside a Senate Democratic leader.

Our audience is seeing a press conference they held yesterday over in the Senate.

Do you believe that Senator Schumer is the right person to lead your caucus in the next Congress?

SEN.

CHRIS COONS: So, we're in the middle of vigorous caucus discussions about this.

And let me point out that there may have been a press conference where they are both calling for change.

Neither of them are offering themselves as the alternative leader.

There's no clear candidates stepping forward yet to say, I would prefer to be the leader of the Senate caucus.

And, as you just commented, we picked up likely seven seats, especially with the announcement today that CNN has called the election in Mississippi for Scott Colom.

I am optimistic about what our new majority can deliver for the American people.

I think fighting publicly over who our next leader ought to be is a distraction from coming together around a common, concrete, simple goal.

And I will point out that this remarkable seven-seat new majority, this pickup of seven seats, was powered by senators Gillibrand and Blunt Rochester and Kelly, and, yes, Senator Schumer, and their very successful fund-raising and candidate recruitment efforts as part of the DSCC team and our caucus leadership.

So we are going to discuss this several more times before there's any vote in December.

And I welcome input and the opportunity to hear from anyone else who might consider stepping forward to be caucus leader.

GEOFF BENNETT: Understood.

What does it say about Democrats' willingness to embrace change if after an election like this the party keeps the same leadership?

SEN.

CHRIS COONS: Well, it would reflect the fact that Senator Schumer led our caucus to success in the election.

But I do respect the fact that there are young voices, there are newer voices in our caucus, obviously, folks like James Talarico, who I hoped and prayed would be successful in his election in Texas, but I wasn't certain.

And he certainly has hit the national stage with prominence and energy and optimism.

We have got new Democratic senators in states like Iowa and Kansas where I never thought we'd have a Democrat again in my lifetime.

And a lot of these folks are new to our caucus.

We're just getting to know them and hear from them in our caucus deliberations.

And I do think there needs to be a role in our caucus leadership for some of the newer, younger generation of voices.

GEOFF BENNETT: Democratic Senator Chris Coons joining us from Wilmington, Delaware, tonight, always good to speak with you.

Thanks.

SEN.

CHRIS COONS: Thank you.

GEOFF BENNETT: And we should note that we also extended an interview invitation to Senator Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and we hope to bring you that conversation soon.