Trump Was Briefed Twice on Nvidia CEO's Affair, Reports Say

US President Donald Trump was briefed at least twice about an affair between Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and a woman American intelligence services consider a suspected Chinese spy — most recently in May by his Secretary of State and National Security Advisor Marco Rubio, according to the New York Times. Trump nonetheless said on Monday he had heard nothing "about it", adding that other people had, and that Huang denies the matter.

The affair is raising a growing set of questions in Washington: what did the president know, when did he know it, and how did he respond. Members of Congress are demanding clarification. Some observers see the potential for the largest US national security scandal in decades.

How close were Trump and Huang?

Few corporate chiefs enjoyed as close a relationship with Trump as Huang did, and Nvidia profited from it. CNN reporter Phil Mattingly compared the pair's publicly known conversations with decisions taken by the Trump administration and laid the sequences side by side.

His finding: one can literally trace how a personal meeting with the president leads, within hours or by the next day, to a decision "that directly affects Nvidia's business results, its products or its operations — and exactly as Jensen had hoped."

What did Nvidia want from the administration?

Huang's interest was simple: sell as many chips abroad as possible, including to China. The Biden administration had sharply restricted exports of high-performance chips to that country.

Yale School of Management's Gautam Mukunda told Bloomberg: "It is obvious that Nvidia used its considerable lobbying power and its substantial influence on the Trump administration — including a $25 million donation for Trump's ballroom — to essentially get the Trump administration to look away and not enforce export control laws."

That is a scandal, Mukunda said, one in which both Nvidia and the Trump administration are implicated. The alleged Chinese spy with whom Huang had the relationship is herself a businesswoman. She may have played a role in exporting chips from the US to China.

What does the president's denial change?

The New York Times reports Trump was informed of the affair at least twice, the last time in May through Rubio. The president disputes that he was ever briefed.

The financial entanglements complicate the picture:

• For more than a year, the US government has shared in Nvidia's revenue: on sales of a certain chip to China, the state receives at least 15 percent of the proceeds, at the president's initiative.
• Trump himself owns Nvidia stock. This year alone, securities were purchased for him five times, each purchase worth between $100,000 and $5 million.

Who is demanding answers?

Democratic Representative Seth Moulton told CNN he now has many questions:

When Trump was informed by Rubio, he chose to do nothing. He chose to do nothing in the name of our national security against our greatest existential adversary. He chose to do nothing because — as I suspect — it might affect his personal wealth or his stock trading. We don't know exactly why, but we have to find out.

Some Republicans are also calling for clarification. Two Democratic senators have demanded in writing that the administration preserve all relevant documents for possible investigations.