‘How the hell could this have happened?!’: Ruhle says Nvidia scandal is ‘national security DISASTER’

the quick and shocking downfall of one. of the most powerful peopl. in the tech world is complete. This morning, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang. resigned. effective immediately amid a series. of scandals involving his affair. with a woman believed to be a Chinese spy. It also comes, as the New York Times. reports, Wong also had a second affair. with an NVIDIA vice president. That's according to five people who worked. at the company. The blast radius of the scandal also extending. to Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. A scrutiny intensifies over his department's.

decision to allow. foreign sales of NVIDIA's computer chips. It's a potential national security. issue that is bringing Democrats. and Republicans together, demanding answers from. Lutnick. and other top deputies. Already, Wang has agreed to testify. before Congress sometime in the next two weeks. I want to bring in Mary McCord, MSNL legal analyst and amicus curiae. for the foreign intelligence surveillance. court along with my friend and. host. of money power politics here. on ms now stephanie rule stephanie give.

us the big picture here how much. of a shockwave is this sending not just. through the tech world but for the national. security community the world in general okay. so like right now this is who what when where. why and how the hell could this have possibly. happened okay for people who are. like nvidia nvidia is the most powerful it is. the the most powerful it is the most powerful. it is a linchpin company in the AI universe. leading the AI revolution and it has been jensen. wang the entire time leading the way.

so we learn in the last five days yes he was. having this affair with a woman who's. a suspected Chinese spy and then there's two. big questions where's the board of this company. and where is the U .S. government the job of a board. of directors is corporate governance. how is it that this man ran this massive. of a company he had 60 direct reports. and this board has basically been. like nothing to see here and potentially you could. say well maybe. they didn't know about the Chinese spy. this other woman within the company. that we just learned about in the last day.

and they have an intermediary CEO in place. but there's so many other AI businesses. that are connected and dependent. and then we turn to the government our secretary. of state Marco Rubio warned the president. and Howard BIT OF A LITTLE BIT OF THE. POTENTIAL RISKS. JUST THINK ABOUT THIS, THE PRESIDENT HAS BEEN. SAYING TO US. FOR THE LAST TWO YEARS YOU SHOULD. HAVE A DATA CENTER IN. IT'S HURTING YOUR QUALITY OF LIFE, WORRIED ABOUT YOUR FUTURE. WINNING THE A .I. RACE IS THE ONLY THING THAT SHOULD MATTER.

IF YOU'RE AN AMERICAN AND YOU WANT TO WIN THIS. MEANWHILE, WE'RE CUTTING DEALS WHERE. THERE'S. A WE'RE LOOKING THE OTHER WAY. AND WE'RE THEN SELLING SOME. OF OUR MOST VALUABLE CHIPS AND THE U .S. GOVERNMENT IS GETTING A CUT OF. IT. THERE'S GOING TO BE SO MUCH SCRUTINY ON THE COMMERCE. DEPARTMENT OF WHY THEY THEY DIDN'T DO ANYTHING. AFTER. MARCO RUBIO WARNED THE PRESIDENT. AND HOWARD LUTNICK ON A TRIP TO. CHINA WHILE ON AIR FORCE ONE. AND THEY WERE LIKE NO SWEAT. and they still had Jensen Wong join them. Talk about putting party over country.

This is about enrichment for potentially our. president. and Howard Lutnick. This is about conflict of interest. Yes, it started as a sex scandal, but this is a national INVESTIGATORS. WERE A CONGRESSIONAL SECURITY DISASTER. MARY, IF YOU WERE A CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATOR, WHICH QUESTIONS DO YOU HAVE? WELL, I MEAN, I WOULD WANT TO GET TO THE. BOTTOM. OF WHY IT WAS THAT no defensive. briefings were given, why it was that Donald Trump. basically ignored what he was told a year ago. I mean, this is classic tradecraft. by the Chinese, right?

They They send operatives to get. into American countries, companies to steal trade secrets. They send operatives into our labs. and universities to steal trade secrets. and technology that can be used not only. for economic advantage, but for national security advantage. And China's been very clear for a long time now, it wants to build not only a completely. self-sufficient semiconductor industry, it wants total self sufficiency for its country. It wants its food supply to be self-sufficient.

I mean, that's why we had cases. back when I was the acting AG. for national security at the Department. of Justice case of somebody sent. here to actually literally go dig genetically altered. seeds. out of the soil in the Midwest. because they had an important. research capacity to aid in medical research. I mean, this is the playbook. and that's why people, if you care about national security. like the president should, like the secretary of commerce should, it is a big deal when you've got.

the leader of such an important company. like Stephanie was talking ARE TALKING ABOUT, WHO IS ASSOCIATING WITH SOMEONE. THAT THE INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY HAS. DETERMINED IS A CHINESE SPY. WE DIDN'T EVEN MENTION THE FBI, WHERE WAS THE FBI, ALICIA? THAT'S EXACTLY WHERE I WAS GOING. HOW DID THE FBI NOT KNOCK TALK ON THE. DOOR OF JENSEN WONG AND SAY, HEY, BUDDY, SHE'S NOT THAT INTO YOU. IT'S NOT JUST THE BLACK LEATHER JACKETS. SHE'S A CHINESE ISSUES. I DON'T THINK IT'S A SPY BECAUSE HIS ARGUMENT,

AND ACTUALLY NVIDIA'S ARGUMENT ON SUNDAY WAS. WE LEARNED ABOUT THIS BUT WE DO NOT BELIEVE ANY. TAKE ANY NATIONAL SECURITY. ISSUES WERE VIOLATED. WHAT ARE YOU KIDDING ME? GIVEN THAT OUR INTELLIGENCE KNEW THIS, HOW ON EARTH DID KASH PATEL AND HIS TEAM. NOT DID KASH PATEL AND HIS TEAM NOT. BRIEF JENSEN WONG HIMSELF? RIGHT. I MEAN, MARY, THERE'S SUPPOSED TO BE THE. RESPONSIBILITY. ON THE PART OF THE FBI DIRECTOR. THE FACT THAT THAT WAS NOT DONE HERE, THAT IS A HUGE BREACH IN PROTOCOL. OH, YES. AND YOU KNOW, I MEAN, I HAVE NO IDEA,

NONE OF US DO WHAT THOSE CONVERSATIONS WERE. THAT LED to there not being a defensive brief. That's obviously something that Congress, I mean, to get back to your original. question to me, Alicia, that's something Congress. is going. to want to learn about because that is protocol. And whether Huang knew it or didn't know HE SHOULD. HAVE KNOWN IT. BECAUSE HE SHOULD HAVE BEEN TOLD. ABOUT IT LONG AGO. AND SO I THINK THOSE ARE SOME IMPORTANT THINGS. I THINK WE'LL NOT ONLY SEE Jensen Huang, you know, who apparently has agreed to testify. BEHIND CLOSED DOORS I THINK MAYBE NEXT WEEK, BUT, You know, we should be seeing Kesh.

Patel talking. about this. We should be seeing people from the Department of. Commerce, including the secretary, talking about this. There'll be a lot of pushback, of course. But like, this is, you know, from a president who claims to think. that national HE'S USING NATIONAL. SECURITY ALL OVER THE PLACE NOW. TO TRY TO JUSTIFY VANITY PROJECTS AND. EVERY OTHER DARN THING. THIS IS SOMEBODY WHO TOOK AN. INCREDIBLY CAVALIER ATTITUDE, APPARENTLY, TOWARD REALLY, REALLY CRITICAL NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT. AND THE PLACE THIS IS GOING TO TAKE US BACK TO,

ALICIA, IS MONEY, RIGHT? I MENTIONED LAST YEAR WHEN WHEN THEY AGREED TO ALLOW. NVIDIA TO SELL. THESE SUPER HIGH-VALUE CHIPS, THE U .S. GOVERNMENT WAS GETTING A CUT, AND IT DOESN'T JUST END WITH THE GOVERNMENT, LOOK AT THE PRESIDENT, AND YES, THE WHITE HOUSE. WILL SAY THE. PRESIDENT HAS NO KNOWLEDGE OF HIS OWN STOCK. THE PRESIDENT HAS BEEN A HUGE INVESTOR IN NVIDIA. STOCK AND. IT HAS BEEN ONE OF THE GREATEST. PERFORMERS IN THE MARKET OVER. THE LAST FEW YEARS. NEVER FORGET WHEN YOU ARE. ASKING THE WHY, HEAD OVER TO THE DOLLAR SIGN.

Mary McCORD, ALWAYS GRATEFUL FOR YOUR TIME. Stephanie Ruhle, WHAT A TREAT AND TO HAVE. YOU JOINING US. FROM THE GREAT STATE OF NEW JERSEY. I'M SO JEALOUS. ALL RIGHT, CATCH STEPHANIE ON MONEY. POWER POLITICS. EVERY WEEKDAY AT 9 AM EASTERN ON MSNOW.