Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate and the party’s “de facto” boss, has called on the Trump Administration to fully clarify the alleged Chinese spying operation linked to the resignation of the former chief executive officer of Nvidia, Jensen Huang, whom he also considers essential to appear before Congress to detail what happened.
Huang announced this Thursday that he was leaving the post after several days of intense pressure, after it emerged that he had an affair with a supposed Chinese spy and amid the stock market plunge of the tech company’s shares.
For Schumer, Huang’s departure does not close the case, not even close. “Despite Jensen Huang’s resignation, Congress owes Huang and others at Nvidia an explanation of how they may have put the national security of the United States at risk,” he said on social media, the one who is being called to become the next leader of the Democratic majority in the new U.S. Congress.
In addition, he has emphasized that “the Trump administration must also answer for what it did once it found out about Huang’s relationship with a suspected Chinese intelligence asset,” making clear that he himself has several questions that he wants to clear up.
“Were government officials told not to investigate because of Trump’s relationship with Mr. Huang? What did Trump know when he personally invited Mr. Huang aboard Air Force One?” Schumer asked, raising political pressure on the White House.
“Americans,” he continued, “deserve to be confident that those at the very top of power put the United States first above all else, ahead of economic results and their personal friendships”.
After Huang’s resignation, Colette Kress, the current executive vice president and chief financial officer of Nvidia, has provisionally taken on the top leadership functions, combining this role with her current duties while the succession process is completed. The board of directors has launched the search for a new chief executive officer, considering both internal and external candidates.
For his part, U.S. President Donald Trump has publicly suggested that the former top executive of Apple, Tim Cook, would be an ideal candidate to lead Nvidia and fill the gap left by Huang’s departure.