Free Republic

On Monday, President Donald Trump stated the FBI is investigating Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang regarding an alleged affair with a Chinese government agent, calling Huang a "very honorable man" at a White House briefing.Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Guo Jiakun denied the allegations on Monday, calling them a "smear campaign against Beijing," while the state-owned Global Times claimed the report aims to disrupt improving China-US relations.Nvidia shares dropped roughly 5% in pre-market trading early Monday as Huang previously lobbied Washington to permit sales of advanced H200 and H20 chips to China, winning approval from Trump this year.Huang told Trump he...

One of the oldest tricks in the espionage game is the "honey trap," wherein the target is seduced into a, shall we say, intimate relationship with the spy, who proceeds to wheedle information or other favors out of the target via pillow talk. Even American Congressmen aren't immune, and neither, it seems, are CEOs of major tech companies. The chipmaker Nvidia's CEO, Jensen Huang, is under scrutiny for his relationship with one Alice Huang (no relation) who is suspected of being a Chinese spy. And, it turns out, Secretary of State Marco Rubio sounded the alarm on this some time...

Eric Swalwell confessed to a prescription drug-fueled sex romp with a suspected Chinese spy, according to newly released FBI files that confirm for the first time the disgraced former congressman got physical with Beijing’s purported honeypot. The former East Bay congressman had “physical relations” with Christine Fang, also known as “Fang Fang,” on at least two occasions, according to investigative files made public Monday by the White House Transparency Task Force. On one occasion, Fang showed up at Swalwell’s apartment late one night demanding to be let in, with the Democrat admitting the two “hooked up” after he had taken...

US military personnel and contractors in the Middle East were targeted in a coordinated phone-tracking campaign before and during the Iran war, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday, citing telecom data, cybersecurity experts and officials familiar with the matter. “Iran absolutely has capabilities to get real-time, immediate, and continuous location information,” Gary Miller, a senior research fellow at cybersecurity watchdog Citizen Lab, told the FT. “It would surprise me very much if Iran were not using SS7, or mobile network access in the region, to track US users.” Telecom networks under pressure Middle Eastern telecom networks, according to the report,...

Unusual timing: Elaine Chao met China's vice president in Beijing three days after McConnell's hospitalisation, prompting questions about priorities and public perception. Health concerns: Medical experts warn McConnell, 84, is 'unfit to serve' after reported cardiac arrest and prolonged hospital stay, urging him to retire immediately. Political stakes: McConnell's condition fuels speculation over early retirement and the potential for a Democrat to fill his Senate seat before his planned departure.

Two hundred and fifty years after the Declaration of Independence, we speak of the founders with a reverence that can flatten them into marble—preordained, wise, and magnificent. But George Washington is a far more interesting figure than the monument allows. He was, by most accounts, a mediocre battlefield general. He lost more engagements than he won. He was outmaneuvered at Long Island and badly beaten at Brandywine, and lost Philadelphia in the aftermath. As president, of course, he was transformative, setting precedents for executive restraint and the peaceful transfer of power that still define the office.But neither the flawed general...

Disgraced former Arcadia mayor Eileen Wang entered her plea today in federal court following the bombshell admission that she was a spy for China. Wang pleaded guilty on Friday after taking a plea deal with the Department of Justice, admitting that she had acted as an illegal agent of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), ABC7 reported. Wang agreed with prosecutors that she worked with the PRC to boost propaganda with a fake news website on US soil between 2020 and 2022. She was elected to the city council in Arcadia — a city in the San Gabriel Valley within...

Two convicted Chinese spies helped Arcadia’s former mayor become a successful SoCal politician — who secretly took orders from Beijing. Yaoning “Mike” Sun and John Chen helped Eileen Wang win office and secretly reported back to their masters in the People’s Republic of China, according to court documents. Sun took orders from Chen as he served as the campaign manager and business partner of Wang in her successful 2022 run for Arcadia City Council. When Wang won her seat, Chen told Sun to send a report to their PRC masters calling Wang a “new political star.” Wang would “go against...

A Southern California mayor refused to comment on her former fiancé and campaign staffer, who was sentenced to four years in federal prison for "acting as an illegal agent of the People's Republic of China." Last week, Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang's former fiancé, Yaoning "Mike" Sun, was sentenced to four years in federal prison for acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government. Wang has not been accused of any wrongdoing in connection with the case and refused to comment on it during Arcadia's first City Council meeting since the sentencing. Sun pleaded guilty in October 2025 to one...

The mayor of Arcadia, California, has been charged in federal court with acting as an illegal agent of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Justice Department announced today. Eileen Wang, 58, of Arcadia, is charged via information with one count of acting in the United States as an illegal agent of a foreign government. In a related filing, Wang has agreed to plead guilty to the felony count, which comes with a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. She is expected to make her initial appearance this afternoon in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles. Wang is...

A Chinese researcher at the University of Michigan took his own life after being subjected to 'hostile questioning' by federal agents, it is claimed. Danhao Wang, an assistant research scientist in the school's College of Engineering, died on March 20 inside the university after falling to his death. Police said they are investigating his death as a 'possible act of self-harm', with the China Ministry of Foreign Affairs claiming he took his life after 'hostile questioning'. A statement, which did not name Wang, said that the postdoctoral scholar took his life 'after being subjected to hostile questioning by U.S. law...

California candidate for governor Eric Swalwell insisted “the case is closed” at an abrupt news conference — as FBI Director Kash Patel threatens to release investigative files about a suspected Chinese spy who infiltrated his office. “This case is closed — the bureau said, over 10 years ago, all we did was help,” Swalwell said in brief remarks Monday outside the Phillip Burton Federal Building in San Francisco. The East Bay rep was surrounded by SEIU union officials as he blasted FBI Director Kash Patel as a “temporary employee” engaged in a “horrendous abuse of power” in digging up the...

Millions of Americans depend on medical devices — pacemakers, infusion pumps and patient monitors — to stay alive. But some of that equipment is made in China and it may be spying on us – or worse. In January 2025, the Food and Drug Administration and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency issued a stark joint warning: patient monitors made by Contec Medical Systems, a Chinese company based in Qinhuangdao, contain a hidden backdoor. These devices, used in hospitals across the United States, can transmit sensitive patient data to a hard-coded IP address in China. Even more troubling, the backdoor...

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro claimed that former Vice President Kamala Harris' election team asked whether he was an "agent of the Israeli government" while discussing his potential as a vice presidential candidate.

State prosecutors on Monday filed an indictment against a Rishon Lezion resident accused of carrying out surveillance missions on behalf of a foreign agent, including filming the street outside the home of former prime minister Naftali Bennett, in what authorities described as another attempt by Iranian intelligence to collect information on senior Israeli figures. The indictment, filed with the Central District Court in Lod, charges Lekachao Demsash, 31, with contact with a foreign agent, an offense that carries a potential prison sentence. Prosecutors have also requested that he be held in custody until the conclusion of legal proceedings, citing the...

Ames, a 31-year CIA veteran, admitted being paid $2.5 million by Moscow for US secrets from 1985 until his arrest in 1994. WASHINGTON: CIA turncoat Aldrich Ames, who betrayed Western intelligence assets to the Soviet Union and Russia in one of the most damaging intelligence breaches in US history, has died in a Maryland prison. He was 84. A spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons confirmed Ames died Monday. Ames, a 31-year CIA veteran, admitted being paid $2.5 million by Moscow for US secrets from 1985 until his arrest in 1994. His disclosures included the identities of 10 Russian officials...

Aldrich Ames, the most murderous turncoat in the history of the Central Intelligence Agency, whose betrayal in working for the Soviet Union went undetected for almost a decade, died on Monday. He was 84 and had been a federal prisoner, serving life without parole, since 1994.

FBI Director Kash Patel said on Oct. 15 that the agency is cracking down on espionage by foreign adversaries, with an increase in arrests as high as 50 percent. “We have gone after espionage activities against our main counterparts in China, Russia, and Iran,” he said at a press conference. “In China alone, we’ve had over a 50 percent increase in espionage arrests alone, and prosecutions,” Patel said. “In Iran, we have had a 50 percent increase, again, in espionage cases. And in Russia, we had a 33 percent increase in espionage cases alone.” State Department employee Ashley Tellis, arrested...

FBI Director Kash Patel’s country music-singing girlfriend is suing the ex-FBI agent-turned podcast bro who suggested she was a “former Mossad Agent” sent as a “honeypot” to compromise Patel.Alexis Wilkins, 26, who has allegedly been dating Patel since 2023, is seeking $5 million in damages from self-professed “recovering FBI agent” Kyle Seraphin in a defamation lawsuit filed in an Austin, Texas federal court on Wednesday.Alekins Wilkins hugs Kash Patel after being sworn in as FBI director. Leah Millis/REUTERS In the complaint, Wilkins’ attorney wrote that Seraphin had “maliciously lied” about Wilkins by “falsely asserting that she—an American-born country singer—is an...

After his first arrest for sex crimes, Jeffrey Epstein tried to get into a new line of work: surveillance. In 2015, he partnered with former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak to invest in a security tech startup called Reporty Homeland Security, now known as Carbyne. Leaked emails show that Epstein was using Barak to seek out opportunities in the surveillance industry and build connections with powerful figures around the globe, including American businessman Peter Thiel, the former director of Israeli signals intelligence, and two people in Russian President Vladimir Putin's circle. After he was first caught sexually exploiting teenage girls,...