Trump says Huang had ‘no idea’ lover was suspected spy

President Donald Trump said Monday that he spoke with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who told him he had "absolutely no idea" that Alice Huang, the woman he had an affair with, was a suspected Chinese spy. Trump also said the FBI is looking into the matter. "He said I had no idea that she was a spy, and I really believe him," Trump told reporters at an impromptu White House briefing, NBC News reported.nbcnews.com

The comments came one day after Nvidia's board opened an independent investigation into reports that its founder was "the target of a foreign intelligence effort." On the same day, Huang admitted he had been "unfaithful to my wife," according to NBC News.nbcnews.com

What Trump said

Trump said he called Huang "just to see if he's feeling all right" and suggested he had learned of the allegations only recently. "I've been reading a little bit about it over a period of time, but not too long ago," he said. "I know the FBI is looking into it in terms of something else, and I think that he'll be in good shape," CNBC reported. He did not say what the FBI is examining or when that work began, and the FBI declined to comment to the BBC.cnbc.com+1

His account sits uneasily with earlier reporting. The New York Times ↗ 5.57% reported that Trump was briefed on the intelligence findings about a year ago and "chose not to do anything with the information," CNBC noted. The Times also reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio sent senior officials a memo last spring warning about the relationship, the BBC reported.bbc.co.uk+1

Trump called Huang "a very honorable man" and said he does not plan to raise the case with Chinese President Xi Jinping at next week's APEC summit in Shenzhen. He added that he was "sure President Xi will ask me about it," CNBC reported.cnbc.com

Beijing denies, markets react

China's foreign ministry rejected the allegations. "The so-called Chinese spy allegation is unsubstantiated. It is nothing but smears against China," spokesperson Guo Jiakun said at a Monday briefing, the Associated Press reported. When a reporter asked whether he was explicitly denying that Alice Huang worked for Chinese intelligence, Guo repeated the same line, El País reported.spectrumlocalnews.com+1

Nvidia shares fell on Monday, and the company was the worst performer in the Dow and the Nasdaq, NBC News reported. Nvidia said it has no evidence that company secrets or national security were compromised, according to the BBC.bbc.co.uk+1

Congressional scrutiny

Alice Huang is a former executive at Megaspeed, a Singapore-based company that U.S. officials suspected of diverting restricted Nvidia chips to China, The New York Times reported. She is not related to Jensen Huang. Several congressional committees have invited Huang to a closed-door briefing next week on Nvidia's defenses against foreign espionage, the BBC reported. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has called for "a full briefing," and Senators Elizabeth Warren and Jim Banks said the disclosures raise "important questions NVIDIA must answer," NBC News reported.nytimes.com+2