Huawei row: Trump threatened intel block

US SECRETARY OF STATE MIKE POMPEO HAS SAID HUAWEI WAS A “TROJAN HORSE FOR CHINESE INTELLIGENCE.”

WASHINGTON: The United States’ ambassador to Germany said Sunday that President Donald Trump had threatened to cut off intelligence-sharing with countries that dealt with Chinese tech firm Huawei.

Washington has been pressing allies to ban Huawei, one of the world’s largest tech firms, from next-generation 5G mobile data networks, saying it is a security risk.

Ambassador Richard Grenell said Trump “instructed me to make clear that any nation who chooses to use an untrustworthy 5G vendor will jeopardize our ability to share intelligence and information at the highest level.” Grenell said on Twitter that the president had called him on Sunday from Air Force One, the presidential plane, to convey the message.

Key US allies in Europe, notably Britain and France, have said they will not ban Huawei from building 5G networks but will impose restrictions. Publicly, the US has been restrained in its response, but Trump was reportedly furious with London. ‘BLOOMBERG IS TRYING TO BUY ELECTION’

With the Nevada caucuses less than a week away, Democratic presidential candidates campaigning this weekend were fixated on a rival who wasn’t contesting the state.

Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg all targeted billionaire Mike Bloomberg, accusing him of buying his way into the election and making clear they were eager to take him on in a debate. “He thinks he can buy this election,” Sanders said of the former New York mayor at a Sunday rally in Carson City, Nevada.

“Well, I’ve got news for Mr. Bloomberg — the American people are sick and tired of billionaires buying elections!”