WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump on Monday downplayed revelations that close ally and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had an affair with a woman suspected of spying for China.Trump said the FBI was “looking into” the matter while insisting that he believed the tech billionaire’s assertion that he knew nothing about the alleged espionage operation.“I know the FBI is looking into it in terms of something else, and I think that he’ll be in good shape,” Trump told reporters when asked when he first learned of the concerns about Huang. Trump said he spoke with Huang earlier Monday and asked whether he knew about the woman’s alleged ties to Chinese intelligence. “He said, I had no idea that she was a spy and I really believe him,” Trump said.Trump said he believed Huang was “suffering greatly” because of the toll on his family. Asked whether he would raise the matter with Chinese President Xi Jinping next week, Trump said he didn’t think so, though Xi might bring it up.Trump’s dismissal came amid growing scrutiny over the influential role that Huang played in advising Trump on AI and his approach to trade with China, even as the US government’s intelligence agencies scrutinized the suspected spy who grew close to Huang in an investigation that played out for months behind the scenes.The president’s decision to stick by Huang marked the latest development in an extraordinary episode that has raised acute concerns about the economic and national security risks posed by the Nvidia chief’s relationship with Alice Huang, an executive at a Singapore-based tech firm who is not related to the Nvidia CEO.Senior Trump administration officials met earlier on Monday with a group of top lawmakers charged with overseeing the nation’s intelligence agencies, during which they discussed the intelligence surrounding Huang’s affair.The private meeting with the so-called Gang of Eight was initially meant to focus on the war in Iran. But it came days after Jensen Huang admitted to the affair — and nearly a year after the FBI first raised worries to lawmakers that Alice Huang might be feeding information to China, two people familiar with the matter told CNN.Jay Clayton, the director of national intelligence, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe were spotted on Capitol Hill as Trump officials huddled for more than an hour with the Gang of Eight lawmakers charged with overseeing the nation’s intelligence agencies.But lawmakers indicated afterward they still had more questions than answers, with Democrats vowing a slew of investigations into the matter once they take control of Congress in January.“The export of advanced semiconductors to China or countries where China might access them is a matter of immense national security importance,” Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement. “We are aggressively pursuing more information to understand what happened and whether the decision-making process to export chips was improperly influenced or compromised.”Jensen Huang, who co-founded Nvidia and built it into one of the world’s most valuable companies, is among a handful of tech billionaires who have played an influential role in shaping Trump’s hands-off regulatory approach to the AI industry.Huang’s cozy relationship with Trump, including regular phone calls and trips to Washington for meetings in the West Wing, has persisted despite long-running suspicions within the government that he could be an unwitting conduit of information to China’s government.Federal agents first informed some lawmakers roughly a year ago that they suspected Huang was the “target of a foreign intelligence effort,” citing his close relationship with Alice Huang, a Chinese citizen who represented the data center company Megaspeed.The FBI officials noted that Alice Huang suddenly had an unusual level of purchasing power for someone in her position, one of the people familiar said.Those initial suspicions formed the foundation of a classified memo issued in May warning that Jensen Huang had a close relationship with a woman the US now concluded was a Chinese spy, a US official and another person familiar with the matter said.Trump did not take any apparent action to distance himself from Jensen Huang. Huang was not initially among the tech executives and businessmen invited to accompany Trump on the China trip, though it’s unclear whether that decision was tied to the memo.Trump ultimately insisted that the Nvidia CEO join him. Huang boarded Air Force One during a layover in Alaska, accompanying Trump and his top aides for the final leg of the flight to China.The president later hailed him as “the Great Jensen Huang” in a social media post insisting that reports he was not invited were incorrect. “I will be asking President Xi, a Leader of extraordinary distinction to ‘open up’ China so that these brilliant people can work their magic, and help bring the People’s Republic to an even higher level!”Trump on Monday claimed he only recently learned of the concerns surrounding Huang, and was not aware of the suspected espionage operation when he brought him to Beijing.The revelations have generated far more alarm among federal officials and others in Trump’s orbit, who expressed shock that a suspected Chinese spy could gain such direct access to an executive running perhaps the nation’s most important AI company — and potentially, by extension, decision-making at the government’s highest levels.“Jaw-dropping,” said one former senior Trump official. “The stakes of that are just so high.”Two former senior intelligence officials at the FBI also questioned the decision not to provide Huang with a “defensive briefing” that would have informed him that he could be the target of Chinese intelligence.Nvidia said it will conduct its own investigation into Huang’s conduct, though it remains unclear whether the company’s board is willing to fire him — and what repercussions that would have for the economy. There is no obvious successor to Huang, who has turned Nvidia into a powerhouse supplier of the chips at the center of the AI boom.Yet despite the implications for national security, the economy and Trump’s own administration, the president insisted on Monday that none of it much worried him.“I’d certainly check with the intelligence people,” he said of when he was first made aware of the concerns tied to Huang. “They could have been mentioned. Certainly, it didn’t make much of an impact on me.”WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump on Monday downplayed revelations that close ally and Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang had an affair with a woman suspected of spying for China.Trump said the FBI was “looking into” the matter while insisting that he believed the tech billionaire’s assertion that he knew nothing about the alleged espionage operation.“I know the FBI is looking into it in terms of something else, and I think that he’ll be in good shape,” Trump told reporters when asked when he first learned of the concerns about Huang. Trump said he spoke with Huang earlier Monday and asked whether he knew about the woman’s alleged ties to Chinese intelligence. “He said, I had no idea that she was a spy and I really believe him,” Trump said.Trump said he believed Huang was “suffering greatly” because of the toll on his family. Asked whether he would raise the matter with Chinese President Xi Jinping next week, Trump said he didn’t think so, though Xi might bring it up.Trump’s dismissal came amid growing scrutiny over the influential role that Huang played in advising Trump on AI and his approach to trade with China, even as the US government’s intelligence agencies scrutinized the suspected spy who grew close to Huang in an investigation that played out for months behind the scenes.The president’s decision to stick by Huang marked the latest development in an extraordinary episode that has raised acute concerns about the economic and national security risks posed by the Nvidia chief’s relationship with Alice Huang, an executive at a Singapore-based tech firm who is not related to the Nvidia CEO.Senior Trump administration officials met earlier on Monday with a group of top lawmakers charged with overseeing the nation’s intelligence agencies, during which they discussed the intelligence surrounding Huang’s affair.The private meeting with the so-called Gang of Eight was initially meant to focus on the war in Iran. But it came days after Jensen Huang admitted to the affair — and nearly a year after the FBI first raised worries to lawmakers that Alice Huang might be feeding information to China, two people familiar with the matter told CNN.Jay Clayton, the director of national intelligence, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe were spotted on Capitol Hill as Trump officials huddled for more than an hour with the Gang of Eight lawmakers charged with overseeing the nation’s intelligence agencies.But lawmakers indicated afterward they still had more questions than answers, with Democrats vowing a slew of investigations into the matter once they take control of Congress in January.“The export of advanced semiconductors to China or countries where China might access them is a matter of immense national security importance,” Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said in a statement. “We are aggressively pursuing more information to understand what happened and whether the decision-making process to export chips was improperly influenced or compromised.”Jensen Huang, who co-founded Nvidia and built it into one of the world’s most valuable companies, is among a handful of tech billionaires who have played an influential role in shaping Trump’s hands-off regulatory approach to the AI industry.Huang’s cozy relationship with Trump, including regular phone calls and trips to Washington for meetings in the West Wing, has persisted despite long-running suspicions within the government that he could be an unwitting conduit of information to China’s government.Federal agents first informed some lawmakers roughly a year ago that they suspected Huang was the “target of a foreign intelligence effort,” citing his close relationship with Alice Huang, a Chinese citizen who represented the data center company Megaspeed.The FBI officials noted that Alice Huang suddenly had an unusual level of purchasing power for someone in her position, one of the people familiar said.Those initial suspicions formed the foundation of a classified memo issued in May warning that Jensen Huang had a close relationship with a woman the US now concluded was a Chinese spy, a US official and another person familiar with the matter said.Trump did not take any apparent action to distance himself from Jensen Huang. Huang was not initially among the tech executives and businessmen invited to accompany Trump on the China trip, though it’s unclear whether that decision was tied to the memo.Trump ultimately insisted that the Nvidia CEO join him. Huang boarded Air Force One during a layover in Alaska, accompanying Trump and his top aides for the final leg of the flight to China.The president later hailed him as “the Great Jensen Huang” in a social media post insisting that reports he was not invited were incorrect. “I will be asking President Xi, a Leader of extraordinary distinction to ‘open up’ China so that these brilliant people can work their magic, and help bring the People’s Republic to an even higher level!”Trump on Monday claimed he only recently learned of the concerns surrounding Huang, and was not aware of the suspected espionage operation when he brought him to Beijing.The revelations have generated far more alarm among federal officials and others in Trump’s orbit, who expressed shock that a suspected Chinese spy could gain such direct access to an executive running perhaps the nation’s most important AI company — and potentially, by extension, decision-making at the government’s highest levels.“Jaw-dropping,” said one former senior Trump official. “The stakes of that are just so high.”Two former senior intelligence officials at the FBI also questioned the decision not to provide Huang with a “defensive briefing” that would have informed him that he could be the target of Chinese intelligence.Nvidia said it will conduct its own investigation into Huang’s conduct, though it remains unclear whether the company’s board is willing to fire him — and what repercussions that would have for the economy. There is no obvious successor to Huang, who has turned Nvidia into a powerhouse supplier of the chips at the center of the AI boom.Yet despite the implications for national security, the economy and Trump’s own administration, the president insisted on Monday that none of it much worried him.“I’d certainly check with the intelligence people,” he said of when he was first made aware of the concerns tied to Huang. “They could have been mentioned. Certainly, it didn’t make much of an impact on me.”
Trump backs tech billionaire amid probe into affair with alleged Chinese spy
