President Donald Trump is trying to downplay an alleged spy scandal involving his top ally at tech firm Nvidia before it completely blows up in his face.

Trump’s relationship with Nvidia and its CEO, Jensen Huang, has been under scrutiny ever since he returned to the White House. The president has purchased stock in Nvidia while his administration has awarded Huang’s company large federal contracts and, controversially, allowed it to sell highly coveted computer chips to China. And those ties are under scrutiny yet again after The New York Times reported that Secretary of State Marco Rubio had previously flagged concerns that Huang was in a relationship with someone believed to be a Chinese spy.

Per Sunday’s report:

Secretary of State Marco Rubio oversaw the drafting of the highly classified memo this past spring warning top Trump administration officials that Nvidia’s chief executive, Jensen Huang, was in a close relationship with a Chinese spy, multiple people briefed on the matter said.

The document was based on classified intelligence from electronic surveillance of Alice Huang, a Chinese citizen who was a senior executive at a Singapore-based company that was buying Nvidia’s advanced artificial intelligence chips and being investigated for illegally smuggling them into China. U.S. officials had concluded that Ms. Huang was in a close relationship with the Nvidia chief, who is no relation, and that she had been recruited to spy by China’s top intelligence agency, the Ministry of State Security.

But Trump wasted no time in trying to downplay the story about his close associate, who has admitted to having an extramarital affair. When asked Sunday whether he wished he had acted on the intelligence about Huang, Trump said no and added, “I think he’s an honorable guy. I think he probably has an excuse for it.” The president went on to say Huang has “done an amazing job for our country.”

Here, you see Trump’s jarring inconsistency when it comes to China and national security. The president falsely claimed this summer that China had infiltrated U.S. election systems in 2020, portraying the nation as a top security threat. And yet now he’s telling us he doesn’t think this Huang story is a big deal.

When Rubio was asked about his reported warnings about Huang, he told reporters he couldn’t comment on what he described as an “internal corporate matter.” (Nvidia says it’s investigating but has no reason to believe U.S. national security or company secrets were compromised; China has called the spy allegations a “smear.”)

But the Trump administration’s striking lack of curiosity doesn’t mean there won’t be federal investigations into the matter. A trio of House Republican committee leaders sent Huang a letter last week requesting that he address the affair in a closed-door hearing on Nov. 18. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., declared Saturday that “Congress will investigate and get answers,” and Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., echoed that sentiment during an interview with MS NOW’s Peter Alexander on Monday.

This scandal poses two major political issues for Trump. The first is that it risks serving as a reminder of his self-enriching ways, behavior that many Americans apparently loathe. And Trump’s deference to Huang and Nvidia also stands to remind Americans about his fealty to Big Tech as much of the country rages against the industry.

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