What exactly does it take to get Donald Trump to read a security warning? More to the point, what does it take to get him interested in an alarming one overseen by his own secretary of state, Marco Rubio? The classified memo warned that Trump pal Jensen Huang, the AI chip magnate running Nvidia, was in a romantic relationship with a woman believed to be a Chinese spy.

Trump said he couldn't recall having read it. "I'd certainly check with the intelligence people," he said with an air of innocence. "They could have been mentioned. Certainly, it didn't make much of an impact on me."

Trump was reportedly briefed on the concerns about a year ago. Rubio's memo went around this spring, ahead of Trump's May trip to Beijing. Huang hitched a last-minute ride on Air Force One for that visit.

The woman is Alice Huang (no relation to Jensen). She is a top executive at Singapore-based Megaspeed International. U.S. officials believe she was recruited by China's Ministry of State Security.

Huang started out as a reporter for Chinese state television. Megaspeed was sold to a shell company based in Singapore. It went on to buy billions of dollars' worth of Nvidia's advanced chips. U.S. officials suspect those chips may be helping Chinese customers skirt export controls.

"No, I didn't hear about it then," Trump told reporters when asked whether he knew about such concerns. Either his own security officials are lying about having warned him, or Trump wasn't interested in a threat to U.S. security.

Trump said Jensen Huang assured him that he didn't know Alice Huang was a spy: "I asked him that question. 'Did you have any idea that she was a spy?' He said, 'I had no idea that she was a spy,' and I really believe him."

Trump has also said, "I know Jensen very well. I just think he's a very honorable man." Case closed? Not at all.

Jensen Huang's story has already fallen part once. Only last month, Nvidia insisted his dealings with Alice Huang were ordinary business. Then this month, he told the Nvidia board yes, the relationship was romantic. In other words, he appears to have lied.

Trump pleads ignorance, which is even scarier coming from the commander in chief.

As for U.S. security, Huang has long kept everyone guessing. He has insisted that China would never get its hands on Nvidia's most coveted technology. Yet he has also pushed to sell China Nvidia's advanced Blackwell chips.

Trump was undoubtedly impressed by Huang's generosity. Nvidia poured $25 million into Trump's White House ballroom, tying Apple for the biggest corporate gift. Huang said the company was contributing "in a small way." Aw shucks. If you believe that, you'll also believe a Nvidia spokesman's claim that the millions were "independent of any business interests."

Huang didn't forget to drench Trump in flattery. Last year, he told a conference in Washington, "I come with only one purpose. To inform and to be in service of the president as he thinks about how to make America great."

Nvidia has argued that letting China buy more American chips will make Chinese AI developers depend on American technology. That ignores the fact that China is using AI to beef up its military.

The jury's out on whether Trump is capable of acting on intelligence warnings, even if interested in doing so. And there's the horrible possibility that he does knows about them but will sell out national security for personal enrichment.

There was a time when airing such thoughts amounted to inflammatory rhetoric. But Trump's overt grifting has put just about everything on the table. Two more years of this? Heaven help us.

Follow Froma Harrop on X @FromaHarrop. She can be reached at [email protected]. To find out more about Froma Harrop and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.

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