In yesterday’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations hearing, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) questioned Intel Corporation’s Chief Trade Officer Jeff Rittener on his company’s documented groveling to China, namely the billions it has invested in Chinese artificial intelligence and other technologies.
Senator Hawley went on to call out Rittener for favoring Beijing, America’s chief competitor, and Intel’s executives over his own company’s rank-and-file employees.
“Did you think it was efficient to give your CEO a 45 percent pay increase year-over-year, while you’re cutting 15,000 jobs?” Senator Hawley asked Rittener.
Senator Hawley also pressed Rittener on China’s well-documented use of slave labor. The Intel executive repeatedly evaded answering questions surrounding forced-labor in China, prefacing he’s “not an expert” on the topic.
“It doesn’t take an expert,” Senator Hawley countered. “It should not be hard to say that American jobs are important, American national security’s important, and slave labor is wrong,” he concluded.
Watch the full exchange here, or click on the image above.