What Washington knew: the spy memo, Air Force One and the summons from Congress

The fall of Jensen Huang began with an intelligence assessment. According to The New York Times, a classified memo circulated among senior U.S. officials in the spring of 2026 warning that Alice Huang, a Megaspeed executive who had a romantic relationship with the Nvidia chief, was working for China's Ministry of State Security and had been recruited to target him. The Times reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio supervised the drafting of the memo. China has denied the allegations.

The briefing on Air Force One

The Times reported that Rubio, who also serves as national security adviser, briefed President Trump on the intelligence shortly before Huang joined the presidential trip to Beijing in May. Huang boarded Air Force One at a refueling stop in Alaska; a U.S. official said he met Trump “very briefly” and spent almost the entire flight in a separate part of the plane. A source cited by CNN also said Trump was briefed during the trip.

Trump says he did not know about the relationship when he flew to Beijing. A White House official said of the reports: “These sources have no idea what they're talking about.” One person with knowledge of the matter told the Times that the memo itself was not intended for Trump and was not shown to him on the plane.

On Nov. 8 Trump called Huang “a fine person” and said he should remain CEO. By Thursday he was calling the saga a “horrible thing” and “so sad to see,” and said the FBI is investigating the ties between the two Huangs.

Nvidia's lawyer and the Megaspeed probe

Bloomberg reported that Nvidia's top lawyer, Tim Teter, intervened in a U.S. investigation into alleged chip smuggling by Megaspeed, and later contacted Commerce Under Secretary Jeffrey Kessler about whether the administration had a role in detaining Alice Huang. The Times reported this week that the Justice Department has taken over the federal Megaspeed case.

Congress moves in

On Nov. 5, three House Republican chairs, John Moolenaar of the China Select Committee, Brian Mast of Foreign Affairs and Rick Crawford of Intelligence, asked Huang for a closed-door joint briefing. Moolenaar later said on Fox Business that Huang would likely be subpoenaed if he did not agree. Mast says Huang has now agreed to testify before Thanksgiving in a closed session he expects to be recorded and transcribed. Democrats have used the episode to press for tighter chip export controls; in March, Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Jim Banks had already asked Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to suspend export licenses for Nvidia AI chips and servers to China and Southeast Asia.

A second report, then a third

On Nov. 11 the Times reported, citing five current and former employees, that Huang also had a relationship with Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's vice president of healthcare, who reports directly to him. The paper said a bystander filmed the two together at a conference hotel earlier this year and that Huang's security team offered that person a nondisclosure agreement. When a Times reporter called Huang, he said “I don't think you should be talking to me directly” and hung up. The board met that night. On Thursday, Reuters reported a third relationship with an employee it did not name.