President Donald Trump said on Monday in a press conference that the FBI is looking into Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang’s relationship with Alice Huang.

US spy agencies reportedly believe the former Megaspeed executive was working for China, as Donald Trump made the comments to reporters.

“I know the FBI is looking into it in terms of something else. And I think that he’ll be in good shape,” Trump said.

He did not explain what he meant by ‘something else’. Asked when he was first told about the relationship, Trump said he had been hearing and reading about it for some time, but not long ago, and he did not give a date.

Trump also praised Huang, whom he said he had known for a long time, and said he was amazed when he heard the news.

“I just hope there’s no problem. If there is a problem, we’ll let you know about it,” he said.

He added that he had read Huang’s statement and believed he was suffering greatly, mostly because of his wife and family. Moreover, Jenses Huang told Trump he had no idea the woman was a spy.

But how did we get here? On Sunday, Huang admitted in a memo to staff that he had been unfaithful to his wife, and Nvidia’s board opened an independent investigation. It will check whether company secrets or national security were put at risk.

The New York Times has reported that Trump was briefed on the relationship earlier and chose not to act. Meanwhile, China’s foreign ministry dismissed the spy claims as groundless.

The fallout continued on Monday as Nvidia’s shares closed down more than 4%, and shareholders filed a proposed class action accusing the company and Huang of hiding his ties to the alleged spy.

In October, Trump gave Jensen Huang the country’s highest science honour, and on the same day, he disclosed that he had bought up to $1.6m and sold up to $1m of Nvidia shares over the summer.

Jensen Huang has been asked to attend a closed-door briefing with three House committees on November 18, the day after Nvidia reports its quarterly results.