New York Times: Trump Was Briefed Twice on Concerns That Alice Huang Was Spying for Beijing

Context

Maggie Haberman of The New York Times posted on November 13 a passage from a Times story she wrote with Julian E. Barnes and Jonathan Swan. The passage says US intelligence concerns that Alice Huang was spying for Beijing were taken so seriously that President Donald Trump was briefed twice, late last year and again this spring. This is a separate story from David Sacks's later dispute with the Times. No official New York Times account post of this article cleared 100,000 views in this scan, so Haberman leads.

Deep dive

Maggie Haberman posted at 8:37 PM ET on November 13 and quoted a New York Times story published the same day, written with Julian E. Barnes and Jonathan Swan. The quoted passage says, "The concerns in the U.S. intelligence community that Ms. Huang was spying on behalf of Beijing were taken so seriously that Mr. Trump was twice briefed on it, late last year and again this spring." Haberman tagged both co authors and added "me," marking the post as coming from the reporting team.

The linked Times story is titled "Nvidia Scandal Prompts Questions of What It Means to Be a Spy." The card text on Haberman's post says US intelligence agencies believe a woman who had an affair with Jensen Huang was a Chinese asset, and that they are still assessing more about her role. Those are the Times's characterizations, not an official US finding in the posts reviewed here.

The official New York Times account did not post this article with 100,000 or more views in this scan. Julian Barnes reposted Haberman's post, but that repost had only 127 views. Haberman therefore leads, and the Times article is linked and attributed.

This reporting sits next to, but is not the same as, two other stories already in this deck. CNN, in a separate report led by Natasha Bertrand, said President Trump was briefed more than once, including verbally by Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Marco Rubio aboard Air Force One in May. The Times account adds a count of two briefings and an earlier window, late last year, as well as this spring. David Sacks later argued that Times coverage of Alice Huang relied on unconfirmed claims; that dispute is a separate opinion story.

Jensen Huang resigned as Nvidia's CEO on November 12. Officials, including Attorney General Todd Blanche, have said in earlier coverage that Justice and the FBI have reached no public conclusion about who Alice Huang is or is not.

What to expect next

Watch for any on the record confirmation from the White House or from US intelligence that those two briefings took place, and for how the Times timeline sits beside CNN's account of a May briefing on Air Force One. Nvidia reports third quarter results on November 17, which may bring questions about what the board was told. A public statement from the administration, or a denial, would test the Times's unnamed official sources.