Nvidia scandal latest: What Trump knew, national security concerns & more

New questions today about what President Trump knew about Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's. relationship with an alleged Chinese spy, and when he knew it. Trump on Monday said he wasn't aware Huang was fraternizing. with an accused spy when the two men traveled to Beijing together back in May. But a source says Trump was briefed about the relationship while on Air Force One. Shortly before picking up Huang and flying. to the very country believed to be spying on Huang. This revelation has alarmed federal officials, who are wondering why the Trump administration.

didn't inform him that he was the target of a suspected espionage operation, and why President Trump didn't do more to distance himself from Huang. One former senior Trump official. actually calling the lack of action, quote, jaw dropping. Let's discuss with lead global security analyst at the Washington Post. intelligence Josh Rogin. He's also. the author of Chaos Under Heaven Trump XI and the battle for the 21st century, and former National Security Council deputy senior director for Technology. and National security Chris Maguire. Thank you both for being with us.

So it's interesting because CNN is now confirming. some reporting that Nick, the Commerce secretary, Howard, let Nick and Scott Besson, the Treasury secretary, got in a fight. in the Situation Room about a week ago over this and asking. why more was not done to investigate Mega Speed, the employer of this alleged spy. And then you have President Trump also. when he's been asked about this, saying that sort of thing happens. What do you make of the administration response, Chris? It's stunning that the Commerce Department has taken no action against mega speed.

We know that the company was led by Chinese spies. We know that the Commerce Department leadership knew this, and we know that $5 billion worth of chips went to them. And still today, Mega Speed can still buy Nvidia chips. They're still listed on Nvidia's website as an official cloud partner of media, and there have been no restrictions. Secretary Besson is absolutely right that they should be doing this, and it shows the. the kind of fractious approach to China the administration is taking. Whereas on one hand, Secretary Besson is actually issuing very strong.

outbound investment restrictions on China that came out a few weeks ago. And on the other hand, commerce is doing absolutely nothing on export controls. They're not enforcing the controls on the books, and they're literally letting chips go to companies that are led by Chinese spies. It's really hard to wrap your head around why they would do it. Why would they do it? Well, I think that's what the investigations are going to have. to find out. It's clear that the Commerce Department was prevented. The Commerce Department staff. was prevented from really investigating this magazine issue. to the extent that they wanted to. And the allegation is that that came from Howard.

Nick personally. And I think a lot of congressional committees. are going to want to know about that. There's also a very personal relationship between President Trump and Jensen Huang. They spent a lot of time together. They like each other even now, as you said. President Trump doesn't really care that Jensen Huang, Jensen Huang was having a relationship with a Chinese spy. He doesn't seem bothered by it at all. That might have something to do with the fact that they were buddies. And President Trump doesn't like to investigate his buddies. And also, he struck a deal with Jensen Huang to get 25% of the Nvidia.

Chinese chip sales in profits back paid back to the US Treasury. So President Trump thinks he's in business with Jensen Huang, even though they haven't actually sold any chips to China. They're actually maybe even smuggling the chips to China. But that's neither here nor there. It's sort of a mega speed of sort of an alleged intermediary right between cutout. Right. So what does this mean for the US relationship with Beijing. for an administration. that, at least during the first Trump administration, was very hawkish on China?

It doesn't seem at all that way. Now, President Trump is about to meet XI Jinping in China next week. Then President XI Jinping is coming to Miami for the G20. to be a guest of President Trump in December. Trump thinks they're best friends. He thinks they really like each other and he doesn't want to rock. that relationship. So he's been resisting tough measures on China for the last two years. Now, all of the pressure in Washington is going to be on to raise. the export controls on China to fix what Jensen Huang just did.

And Trump is caught in the middle. But as long as he still thinks that Eugene is his best friend, I don't think he's going to support a lot of tough measures anyway. Nvidia, as they're launching this investigation, is trying to say that. there's no indication, you know, that like China got anything basically, which is it's sort of hard to swallow that they could spend all this time together. And the even even the unimportant would be important right to China in this. And I say that because there's questions about Jensen Huang's judgment,

and he's the person who helped craft a pledge, in September, that he and other major AI executive signed at the white House, committing to self-police their companies. And I wonder now, looking at his judgment, looking at the potential impact. that this failure could have had. What it means sort of more broadly about that. I think clearly what it shows is that we can't outsource compliance. on export controls to the private sector. And I think that's actually why we have export controls to begin with,

because there are certain instances where the interests of a company. and the interests of national security collide, and therefore you have regulations that say, this is where you can't sell things. I think obviously, Nvidia has shown very poor judgment. about the types of companies that they do business with. And that that is a huge concern. And I think that the administration. really has to take those measures into their own hands. And they should be saying that the US government has a veto over this. If you're buying $1 billion worth of AI chips, the government should probably know who you are. If it's a company like Microsoft or Amazon, obviously that's fine.

But if it's a company that we've never heard of. and you're buying billions of dollars of chips, that seems like something where the government. should have the ability to say yes or no. And that's actually what the regulations that are currently on the books say. But the Commerce Department since May 2025 has been refusing to enforce the rules. There's just massive problems here where they've outsourced all of the trust. of this to the private sector. And the trust in the private sector has just clearly shown. that they're not up to this. Well, it's notable that you say that because the justification. from the administration, Trump and some allies is that we can't regulate.

AI because if we try to, we'll lose the race against China. Separate from that, one of the most concerning things about this, and I should note that China's. Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that these allegations. against Alice Wong are groundless, that they're all lies. Despite that, I can't imagine Josh, that Jensen Huang is the only executive that has been approached this way. by potential spies that has access to not only chips, but other sensitive information that could set the US back.

You know, in 2026. We think all the spying is done by satellites. But the truth is that the Chinese intelligence services. are amongst the best, if not the best, at doing the old fashioned kind of spying, where you send human beings in to fool and trick and seduce other human beings. We saw it in Congress with Eric Swalwell. We've seen it in the in the private sector for a long time. You even see it with sink. tankers and journalists that can sometimes get approached. And, that actually turns out to be the most effective,

method because, you know, we're only as strong as our weakest link. And, you know, spying and prostitution are the two oldest professions. for a reason, because they're related where. It is that Fong is continuing to lead the company. CNN's Anna Kuban has much more on this. And one of many questions is, can he continue to do that? Well, Kate, you know, this is. an example of a so-called key man risk when you've got a really powerful CEO. at the top of a really powerful company, at the top of a really powerful industry.

And if he goes, then who replaces him? There isn't really a clear succession plan. And let's be clear that Huang has built this company. over the past 33 years, and he's built it sort of in his image. He's made comments. before to Bloomberg a few years ago saying that our company was built. So I have the I know how to run it. So for as long as I'm running it, that's all that matters. You know, he's reported to have joked to other tech CEOs that when his when they're children. running their companies, he'll still be running Nvidia. Now he's 63. So he's obviously extremely optimistic.

But to be serious about this it really is a company that's synonymous with Huang. And he's built all of these relationships with massive customers, with European leaders and with President Trump, who enjoys. a very good relationship with him over many, many years. And that's going to be very difficult to replace. But specific names that are being bandied about really are his own children. So Spencer and Madison Huang, they both occupy very senior positions at. Nvidia, Spencer in the robotics division and Madison in the marketing division. And so there is chatter that they could take over. But he himself has said quite recently that he wouldn't wish the job on Madison.

or presumably his other child as well, suggesting that it's just incredibly stressful. So this is all just. a massive liability, because of course we know that CEOs are not infallible. They can die unexpectedly. They can become ill. And so that leaves a yawning gap. And we're seeing that now with Nvidia with the board investigating him. We don't know if he'll be ousted. Many analysts are telling CNN they don't think that will be the case. For one, their big reason is that they just don't think that Nvidia. is going to fare quite as well without Huang at the helm.

Julie, I want to I want to do if we could just add 35,000ft view here. Let's pull back. We talk about what's happening here. And obviously you think spy and there are business implications. Talk to me about the actual security implications. The national security concerns here about this relationship and what it could mean. Okay. So America is winning, in in terms of production of semiconductors through. because of Nvidia, Nvidia, just to understand, owns 80.

to 90% of basically the platform that runs AI. So we are winning. And you have a CEO who, not only is in charge. of this company, he basically has no way there's like no one. That's number two. So he's a very important fixture at this company and has strong ties to to Trump. He is now compromised period I don't know I don't care whether he knew it. I don't care the nature of the relationship. He is now compromised.

That means either, that his phone's computers might have been compromised. He might have allowed, the spy to to see them, or she may have been able. to have access to them. Or there's a second type of spying, and that's called influence spying. Based on her relationship with him. She's influencing him. to be able to open up in the markets, the Chinese markets to Nvidia. Now we have essentially we have bans. So that's the national security implications. That's just the sex part.

The other part is, of course, the Trump administration's response. They have known this for a long time. Our understanding is up until the New York Times released, their reports, they, they they didn't review this. They didn't have the Commerce Department, stop this. They didn't have a DOJ or FBI or U.S. Department, a national Security division, review it. So, that also requires some explaining. I can't underestimate why this matters to the common person.

It's a fun story. And, you know, sex and spying and semiconductors, I get it. This is a massive company. It shakes, and the U.S. economy shakes, and people need to understand that. And does it also, Juliette, is there also an element here. about how things are working or not within the federal government? Because we, you know, have this reporting now that the president was briefed a couple of times, despite him saying this week, if he wasn't, we have that reporting. There's also a CNN's reporting.

Two former senior Intel officials at the FBI questioned. why Huang was not actually given the defensive briefing. So that would have told him, hey, you could be the target of a Chinese spy. if that didn't happen. What does that tell you. about what else may not have happened that could expose the U.S.? That's exactly right. Just to explain to people, defensive briefing is when we think when the US intelligence agencies. think someone might be compromised, they act and not know it. They actually warn the American.

They say, look, your relationship with acts, you're your coffee with this person may have compromised you. And what does a defensive briefing do? It ensures that the person not only eliminates or stops that relationship, but protects their their technology, their phones, their computers. But also would notify the U.S. government if there were, any what we would call an influence campaign that they were aware of. So this is going on for what we can understand a year.

and many, many months with the Trump administration's knowledge of it. So what does that say to both, you know, both like, you know, in terms. of where we are as a country and the lack of clarity on whether we are. going to protect, our advantages, that's what we have to remember. This is an advantage in a war, you know, a semiconductor war with China if we're going to protect those, advantages. But secondly, what does this say to the Chinese? The Chinese knew that. We knew there that good. And we are that good.

We found out what was going on. They found out likely what was going on and understood that. for many, many months, the US government did not do anything. The Trump administration continued strong ties with him. They continue to bring him, to China. I want to be clear to folks what, the company that I was watching, runs does it is basically, a way of circumventing U.S. law. And it's if if the head of Nvidia is with her,

that is a national security, challenge and damage.