Rubio briefed Trump before Huang boarded — contradicting president's denial; Democrats urge tighter chip export controls

President Donald Trump (right) greets Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang at a press briefing following an AI-related meeting at the West Wing of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 29 (local time). [Getty Images]
President Donald Trump (right) greets Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang at a press briefing following an AI-related meeting at the West Wing of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 29 (local time). [Getty Images]

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President Donald Trump was briefed aboard Air Force One in May — while en route to China — on intelligence suggesting Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang may have had a romantic relationship with a woman suspected of being a Chinese spy, The New York Times reported Tuesday (local time). The report directly contradicts Trump's denial that he was unaware of the allegations at the time.

Citing multiple people familiar with the matter, The New York Times said Trump received the briefing while the presidential aircraft was heading to China in May, and that Secretary of State Marco Rubio — who was also serving as national security adviser at the time — delivered it personally.

Huang had originally been left off the list of business executives accompanying Trump on the China trip, but Trump invited him to join after Air Force One made a refueling stop in Alaska following departure.

Rubio briefed Trump on the allegations after learning that Huang would be boarding the plane, sources said. Trump showed little reaction and proceeded with plans to bring Huang aboard in Alaska for the flight to China, according to the sources.

A US official said Huang met with Trump "very briefly" after boarding Air Force One and spent "almost the entire flight in a separate area of the plane."

The May briefing was at least the second time in seven months that Trump had been informed of the allegations, The New York Times said.

Despite this, Trump denied Tuesday that he had known about the allegations during the May China visit, telling reporters he "hadn't heard" about them at the time.

Trump had also dismissed concerns and taken no action after receiving an initial briefing in late autumn last year, which indicated that a woman with whom Huang had a romantic relationship was suspected of ties to Chinese intelligence, The New York Times reported.

US authorities concluded that Alice Huang, who had a romantic relationship with Jensen Huang, was working for China's Ministry of State Security, according to the report. Huang had initially described the relationship as a routine business relationship with a customer, but acknowledged Sunday that it had been romantic. Nvidia subsequently announced it would conduct an independent investigation.

The White House disputed the contents of The New York Times report but offered no detailed explanation, the paper said.

Democrats have seized on the episode to criticize the Trump administration's handling of the matter and to push for tighter restrictions on semiconductor exports to China.

Senate Democratic Floor Leader Chuck Schumer, citing media reports that Trump had been briefed on the matter a year ago and taken no action, said Wednesday that "the president should be protecting America, not China or his friends" and criticized Trump for "being busy defending Jensen Huang when he should have been protecting national security."

Schumer urged Congress to thoroughly investigate the administration's failure to adequately respond to foreign intelligence operations targeting the US technology industry.


yckim6452@heraldcorp.com