Washington (United States) (AFP) – Key US lawmakers on Thursday called for clarity on what the Trump administration knew about Nvidia chief Jensen Huang’s extramarital affair with a woman suspected of spying for China, after the AI chip giant announced his departure. Huang, now Nvidia’s former CEO, had pushed for looser rules on sales of US chips to China — crucial in the AI race — and the controversy has reenergized advocates of a hard line on Beijing, days before Donald Trump travels to China.
“Despite Jensen Huang’s resignation, Congress must demand answers from Mr. Huang and others at Nvidia about how they may have put US national security at risk,” Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said on social media. “The Trump administration must also answer for what it did once it learned about Mr. Huang’s relationship with a suspected Chinese intelligence asset,” he added.
Huang, a co-founder of the AI chip giant, on Sunday acknowledged an affair with Alice Huang, a former executive at Singapore-based data center company Megaspeed. The two are not related. US intelligence suspects her of working for Beijing, which has strongly denied the allegations.
– ‘Obvious threat’ – According to The New York Times, Trump was informed of the suspicions last year, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed them to him in May. Trump said on Monday he knew “the FBI is looking into” the affair, adding that he expected Huang to be “in good shape.” He said Huang had told him he did not know the woman was a spy. Huang was ultimately brought down by the scandal on Thursday, when the company’s board announced his departure, effective immediately.
Lawmakers are also raising questions about Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s alleged reluctance to impose restrictions on exports of the chips to China. Three Republican House committee chairmen had already said they wanted to hear from Huang behind closed doors on November 18. Democrats, who will take control of both chambers of Congress in January after winning the midterm elections, have also said they intend to look more closely into the affair.
The top Democrats on the Senate Finance and House Ways and Means committees told Lutnick in a letter on Thursday that they were investigating the administration’s “scheme to approve and tax” Nvidia chip exports to Chinese firms linked to Beijing’s government and military. They accuse Lutnick and Trump of ignoring the “obvious national security threat” posed by the ties between Huang and a suspected Chinese intelligence agent, even though they had reportedly been informed of them.
– Corruption – Senate Republican leader John Thune told reporters on Thursday that a congressional investigation “would make sense” given the national security interests at stake. Schumer, who will succeed Thune as the Senate’s most powerful lawmaker in January, demanded answers from the White House: “Were government officials told not to investigate because of Trump’s relationship with Mr. Huang? What did Trump know when he personally invited Mr. Huang aboard Air Force One?” for a state visit to China in May.
Beyond the national security questions, Democrats could also look for signs of corruption. According to The Washington Post, Nvidia pledged $25 million toward the ballroom Trump is building at the White House, a few months after chip sales to China resumed. The company says the donation was unrelated to its business interests.
“The more I learn about the insane relationship between the Trump administration, Chinese spies and AI billionaires, the more I’m convinced there is nothing this administration does that isn’t corrupt,” Democratic Senator Chris Coons wrote on X last week. “Congress will investigate and get answers.”
© 2024 AFP
