worked in nonprofits before joining the administration of florida universal international. -- previously served six years in the florida house of representatives and was an attorney in private practice. congressman greg steube started his law career in the judge -- army's judge advocate general corps, serving three years in iraq. he was later elected to the florida state house and then state senate. new congress, new leaders. watch it all on c-span. >> acting attorney general math whitaker held a press conference with other trump ministration -- administration law enforcement officials including a guy director christopher wray to announce a federal grand jury eidictment of wall way -- hauw technologies. this is about 30 minutes.

>> is that everybody? good. good-looking crew. good afternoon, and thank you all for being here. i especially want to thank everyone on the stage from the departments of homeland security, the department of commerce, the fbi, and from our u.s. attorney's offices, both in the western district of washington and the eastern district of new york. before i get into today's announcements, i want to remind everyone that the defendants in these cases, as in every case, are innocent until proven guilty, and they deserve the due process of law. first, i am announcing that a

grand jury in seattle has returned an indictment that alleges ten federal crimes by two affiliates of telecommunications corporation huawei technologies. huawei began effort to steal information about a robot that t-mobile used to test mobile phones. in an effort to build their own robot, huawei violated confidentiality and nondisclosure agreements with t-mobile by secretly taking photos of the robot, measuring it, and even stealing it -- stealing a piece of it. i am also announcing today a grand jury in new york has returned an indictment alleging 13 additional crimes committed by huawei, its cfo, its affiliate in iran and one of its subsidiaries here in the united states. the criminal activity alleged in this indictment goes back at least ten years, and goes all the way to the top of the company. as early as 2007, huawei employees allegedly began to misrepresent the company's relationship with its iranian

affiliate, which is called skycom. huawei employees allegedly told banking partners that huawei had sold its ownership interest in skycom, but these claims were false. in reality, huawei had sold sky com to itself. by claiming that skycom was a separate company and not an affiliate of huawei, which it actually controlled, huawei allegedly asserted that all of its iranian business was in compliance with the american sanctions. these alleged false claims led banks to do business with the company and therefore to unknowingly violate our laws. one bank facilitated more than $100 million worth of skycom transactions through the united states in just four years. huawei allegedly lied about other relationships, as well. in 2017 when one bank decided to terminate its global banking relationship with huawei over a

concern about risk, the company allegedly told other banks that huawei was distancing itself from the bank. not the other way around. huawei allegedly did this in an attempt to, among other things, manipulate those other banks into expanding and maintaining their banking relationships with huawei. there are additional troubling allegations in the indictment, as well. including that huawei lied to the federal government and attempted to obstruct justice by concealing and destroying evidence, and by moving potential government witnesses back to china. as has been widely reported, in december 2018, canadian authorities arrested huawei's cfo in vancouver. in compliance with our request for her provisional arrest, pursuant to our extradition treaty with canada. the united states is currently seeking her extradition. we are deeply grateful to the government of canada for its

assistance and its steadfast commitment to the rule of law. i want to repeat that these charges in today's indictments are only allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. and i want to thank everyone who made these indictments possible. especially the agencies represented behind me and to all of the new york, dallas, and seattle law enforcement agents who investigated these cases. they are continuing their work to investigate these matters. i also want to thank our attorneys in the criminal division's money laundering and asset recovery section, the national security division's counterintelligence export control section, and our office of international affairs and our ausas in the eastern district of new york and the western district of washington. the cases we are announcing today have truly been a team effort across multiple u.s. cabinet agencies and across multiple divisions and u.s. attorneys' offices.

here in the department of justice. for more than a year, the agencies represented behind me followed the evidence wherever it led. they have done great work already, and i am confident this team is going to finish the job and bring these cases to a successful conclusion. in a few moments, u.s. attorney donahue and first assistant hayes will provide more details on today's indictments. but let me just say two more things. first, when a bank's customers lie to it about their sanctions-related business, that exposes banks to the risk of violating the law, especially when they provide -- continue to and second, as i toldrs access high-level chinese law enforcement officials in august when i visited their country, we need more law enforcement cooperation with china. china should be concerned about criminal activities by chinese companies and china should take action. we are proud that the united

states has the strongest economy in the world. i believe that it's no small part due to our respect for the rule of law. criminals and bad actors could be certain that they will not get away with criminal activity. but those who do business in the united states can also be certain that department of justice will protect them from criminals, no matter how powerful or influential they are. i think we have shown that today, and we will show that as these cases move forward. i now want to introduce secretary nielsen to address you. secretary? sec. nielsen: thank you. well, good afternoon. thank you all for being here. i'm going to keep my remarks quite short. but i did want to just mention that one of the missions of the department of homeland security is to prevent malicious actors from manipulating our financial system to harm our nation's security. we also ensure that legitimate economic activity is not exploited by our adversaries. i'd like to start as the attorney general did by thanking

our federal partners, including those behind me today. for the work they have put into this case and for their commitment to upholding u.s. law. something that this administration continues to tirelessly do. almost 18 months ago, i.c.e., homeland security investigations special agents working as part of the eldorado task force in new york with our other federal partners were made aware of potential fraudulent activity by huawei and subsidiaries. the alleged fraudulent financial schemes used by huawei and its chief financial officer were not just illegal, but detrimental to the security of the united states. they willfully conducted millions of dollars in transactions that were in direct violation of the iranian transactions and sanctions regulations. and we will not as a country tolerate efforts to circumvent u.s. sanctions to support an odious regime that sponsors terror and threatens the united states and our allies. in spite of the attempts on the part of the defendants to hide their criminal activity and

impede the investigation once they became away of it, hsi conducted an exhaustive international financial investigation that used a broad array of investigative techniques to follow the money that allowed agents to document huawei's illegal conduct. the ability to follow the money is one of the hall marks of hsi's transnational criminal investigative work. in fact, the el dorado task force itself has over 25 years of experience in complex financial investigations. ensuring our nation's laws are upheld, take full force of all of our federal, state and local partners, we greatly appreciate their partnership. i would also like to thank the great men and women of i.c.e., homeland security investigations for their exceptional work on this case, and for what they do every day to protect our homeland. and with that, i'd like to turn it over now to secretary ross. thank you. ross: thank you.

good afternoon. thank you, attorney general whitacre, for hosting us today. -- attorney general whitaker, for hosting us today. and thank you to all of our interagency partners at justice, the fbi and dhs, for your outstanding work on this case. the trump administration continues to be tougher on those who violate our sanctions and our export control laws than any administration in history. as secretary, one of my very first actions was to punish zte for its violations, and we continue to monitor them more strictly than any other company in our history. for years, chinese firms have broken our export laws and undermined sanctions, often using u.s. financial systems to facilitate their illegal activities. this will end.

the men and women of our bureau of industry and security have been at the forefront of our efforts, and i commend them again for their work. despite their small size, just 400 or so hard-working public servants, they do an amazing job helping to keep america safe from those who would do us harm. but these doja-led indictments also show what our united states government can do when we combine our authorities and bring them to bear against bad actors. i'm very proud to stand side by side with our partners. together we are once again putting the world on notice that we will do everything in our power to stop those that disregard u.s. law. too many companies pursue profits by whatever means necessary.

lying, cheating and stealing are not suitable corporate growth strategies. to be clear, these indictments are law enforcement actions, and are wholly separate from our trade negotiations with china. commerce will continue to work with our interagency partners to protect u.s. national security interests. we will ensure our sanctions and export control laws are enforced and violators brought to justice. thank you. >> good afternoon. the charges unsealed today are the result of years of investigative work by the fbi and our law enforcement partners. both sets of

--rges expose one way to threaten the free and fair global marketplace. as you can tell in the number and magnitude of the charges, huawei refused to respect and/s. law international business/ practices. they also intentionally and thought to steal valuable intellectual property from an american company. so it could circumvent hard-earned time-consuming research and gain an unfair market advantage. in pursuit of their commercial ambitions, huawei relied on dishonest practices, contradict the principles that have allowed american companies and the united states to thrive. none, foro place,

this kind of criminal behavior in our country or any other committed to the rule of law. the prosperity that drives our economic security is inherently linked to our national security. the immense influence that the chinese government holds over chinese corporations like huawei represents a threat to both. as americans, we should be concerned about the potential for any company beholden to a foreign government, especially one that does not share our values, to burrow into the american telecommunications market. kind of access could give a foreign government the capacity to maliciously modify or steal information to conduct undetected espionage, or to exert pressure, or control. that as as make clear

country, we have to carefully consider the risks that companies like huawei pose if we allow them into our telecommunications infrastructure. today's charges serve as a warning that the fbi does not and will not tolerate businesses that violate our laws, obstruct our justice, and jeopardize our national security. whilel not stand idly by any entity, whether a foreign government or corporation, seeks to criminally or unfairly undermine our countries place in the world. this announcement would not have been possible without the dedication and hard work of in ourof fbi personnel counterintelligence and criminal investigative divisions, in our new york, dallas, and seattle field offices. i am proud of their hard work, rooting out pervasive criminal behavior by huawei and its

senior executives. like the attorney general, i would like to thank our law enforcement partners in canada for their continued and valuable assistance to the united states in law enforcement matters like this one. lastly, i would like to extend our gratitude to our partners at the departments of commerce and homeland security for their support in our broader efforts to defend our economic and national security. thank you. >> as the attorney general indicated a few moments ago, earlier today, a 13-count indictment was partially unsealed in the eastern district of new york. the unsealed indictment charges four defendants. first, huawei technologies company, limited. the chief operating company of the huawei conglomerate. second, huawei device usa. the main u.s. subsidiary of huawei.

third, sky com tech company, limited. a hong kong company operating in iran that was a de facto subsidiary of huawei. and 4th, wong jaomong, board member of huawei and former board member of sky com. as you're probably aware, huawei is the world's largest telecommunications company, headquartered in the people's republic of china. the defendants are various charged with conspiracy, bank fraud, wire fraud, violations of the international emergency economic powers act, money laundering and obstruction of justice. as with all defendants in the american criminal justice system, they are presumed not guilty. the indictment unsealed today is the result of a long-term investigation of huawei by the u.s. attorney's attorney's office in the eastern district of new york, the doj's criminal division, the doj's national security division and our law enforcement partners from the

fbi, hsi, dod and the treasury and commerce departments. the investigation is ongoing. in sum, the charges in this case in new york relate to a long running scheme by huawei, its cfo and other executives and employees to deceive global financial institutions and the united states government about huawei's business activities in iran. the scheme was designed to allow iran to evade sanctions imposed by the united states and to allow huawei to profit from those evasions. beginning in 2007, huawei employees misrepresented huawei's relationship to sky com, a de facto subsidiary operating in iran. over the course of years, huawei through its executives and others, repeatedly claimed to the u.s. government officials in various banks that the company, its

subsidiaries and partners operated in accordance with u.s. sanctions in export laws and in accordance with eu and un sanctions. as charged in the indictment, those claims were false. employees made false statements to both the fbi and the united states congress. as part of huawei's schemes, ms. mong personally made statements to huawei's major banking partners about the company's operations in iran. as alleged in the indictment, those statements were false. it is important to understand that ms. mong has been charged based upon her own personal conduct and not because of actions or misconduct by other huawei employees. the eastern district of new york, like the entire justice department, is committed to the rule of law. on a daily basis we hold american companies and their executives accountable for violations of the law.

we should and will do the same with foreign companies and their executives no matter how well connected those companies may be. i want to thank the ausa's in my office, david, kaitlyn and sarah, as well as our colleagues in the national security and criminal divisions here in washington and our partners in the fbi, hsi, dod and the treasury and commerce departments for their extraordinary and continuing efforts in this case. thank you. >> good afternoon. let me thank the acting attorney general and everyone behind me for the collective work here today. as you heard from the attorney general, this afternoon in the western district of washington a ten-count indictment was

unsealed charging trade theft, charging wire fraud, obstruction of justice and forfeiture. the indictment in the western district of washington reveals just how determined huawei was to steal t mobile's trade secrets, how clearly huawei knew that what it was doing was wrong, and just how far huawei was willing to go to get the technology it wanted. as set forth in the indictment, our evidence includes numerous e-mails between huawei usa and huawei china over a period of months showing a determined and unrelenting effort to obtain t mobile technology, in this case a robot nicknamed tappy that t mobile used to test mobile phones to ensure they met expectations in the marketplace.

as alleged in the indictment, the e-mails show that huawei wanted to build its own robot, and rather than engineer its own device, it decided to steal t mobile's technology. what do we allege that huawei did? t mobile had given huawei employees limited access to tappy to test huawei's phones, but only subject to agreements strictly prohibiting any conduct to obtain tappy technology. the e-mails clearly show a determined huawei doing everything it could to get what it was told it could not have. huawei entities snuck into the tappy lab with folks who are not authorized to be there. huawei entities directed employees to take photographs, take measurements, and take other protected information without permission.

and finally, when all this still did not get them what they were looking for, they tried to steal tappy's robotic arm in order for engineers in china to replicate it. to make matters worse, when confronted, huawei obstructed justice by preparing a report claiming to be an investigation of rogue employees when huawei clearly knew that the thefts were part of an organized effort by the company. in fact, as the indictment details, this was the way huawei operated. this was huawei's m.o. during the time period of the alleged crimes, huawei announced a bonus program for its employees worldwide, that it would pay cash to employees for stealing confidential information from competitors. and yet, and very tellingly,

within days of this offer, huawei usa sent an e-mail to its employees acknowledging this conduct would be illegal in the united states. let me end by emphasizing as the attorney general did as well, our indictment contains allegations. huawei, like every defendant in a criminal case, has the right to due process including a trial. we look forward to proving our case beyond a reasonable doubt and holding huawei accountable for its actions. let me finish just by thanking as well not only the fbi and the other law enforcement agencies that were involved in this work but the ausa's in my office, todd greenberg and tom woods and a number of other folks who supported them on this case as we got the indictment. thank you very much.

acting atty general whitaker: i appreciate all those remarks and i just want to again thank all of our law enforcement partners and all the cabinet secretaries and others, divisions at the department of justice, u.s. attorney's office for great work, and as we all know, once a company or an individual is indicted, that's when the work really begins and the trial lawyers get to do their things. i'll turn it over to kerry to direct traffic here. .> question for ag whitaker if convicted of these charges, should this company be allowed to operate in the u.s. market? and then i have a followup question on a different topic for the fbi director. acting atty general whitaker: i think the best people to answer that are the u.s. attorneys as to what the potential ramifications of this behavior is. let me start by saying the united states has a very well defined process for allowing people to, that are convicted of

crimes to continue to participate in our economy. i think we're well before that and other departments would have direct input. i don't know if secretary roth, if you have any additional comments on that. sec. ross: no, we don't comment on pending investigations. >> director, you gave a very passionate speech to the fbi personnel about the shutdown in terms of how it impacted. what message are you going to send to the white house and to congress about the effect of the impact of the shutdown and how you're going to work hard to prevent another one? >> for now i'm just very happy that all 37,000 of the great men and women of the fbi are back at work and going to get paid this week, which is what's best for everybody. i'll just leave it at that for now. whitaker, how are

huawei's actions undermining u.s. security? i understand the trait secrets argument but what about the sanctions argument and when you put them all together is it clear that this is just rogue employees or is this the way the company does business? acting atty general whitaker: we have allegations in two indictments that were unsealed today, both in the eastern district of new york and the western district of washington. the behavior in those cases allege more than rogue employees. it alleges corporate sponsor , alleged to have been directed as a corporate policy. i think these are serious actions by a company that appears to be using corporate espionage and sanction violations to enhance their intom line, but to compete

the world economy. this is something united states will not stand for, and we will continue to investigate and prosecute these cases because themately it undermines national security and economic security of our country. first question on china and then a followup on a separate if i could. we've been told today that this was a organized long-term effort by the huawei executives. could any of it have happened without the blessing of the chinese communist government? acting atty general whitaker: we do not allege any action by the chinese government, although director wray, i think you're happy to speak more about the connection between the company and the state? dir. wray: as the acting attorney general said, there's no conduct alleged in the indictment about the chinese government. i will say though that it is public record that under chinese cyber security law, chinese companies like huawei are required to provide essentially access upon demand with little

to no process to challenge that , so that's why it creates the national security implications that we're concerned about. >> i just have a followup for a.g. whitaker. republicans have complained that other witnesses in the russia e-mail investigations have lied or misled congress. is it robert mueller's responsibility to investigate? acting atty general whitaker: well, fundamentally the mueller investigation has a very defined scope, and so anything outside of that scope would have, the scope would have to be enhanced to bring additional matters to be investigated by the mueller investigation, but obviously if it's not given to that investigation by an increasing in the scope of investigation, it would be retained by the department of justice. we have, we take very seriously lying to congress and if there are referrals made by the

appropriate committees, as ordinary course for matters like this, then we would investigate that as we would anything else. >> two quick questions. one, has the justice department formally filed its extradition request form? also, the president once raised the specter of her extradition possibly playing a role in the upcoming trade talks. is that possibility now closed given the strength of this enforcement action? acting atty general whitaker: we, in talking to u.s. attorney donohue, we plan to file our formal extradition request and all the necessary documentation under the extradition treaty in the appropriate time frame which i think is tomorrow so we expect to comply with that. what was your second question? >> the president raised the idea that the extradition could be used in the trade talks that are forthcoming. is that possibility closed given this enforcement action? acting atty general whitaker: the u.s.

department of justice does its investigations and its charging decisions independent from the white house, and we pursued this when the evidence and the facts caused us to seek an indictment from the grand jury and the grand jury returned an indictment. you say you filed it when the facts lead you to an indictment. dismembered seven years ago. why did it take so long to pursue this case against huawei? in 2012 t-mobile should have known better than to let huawei engineers into their space. acting atty general whitaker: we conducted the investigation, and maybe the district attorney in washington one to add additional information when it started, but fundamentally, the way the

department of justice works, we .redicate an investigation once it is predicated, we pursue the means of the investigation, whether it is search warrants or interviews, and we do these things as ordinary course of business. one of the things that was emphasized that needs to be reemphasized, these cases, while we are announcing them today and they concern the same company and different behaviors by the same company, our department of justice actions, we do our cases independent from the federal writ large, and there is a tried and true system. dotsdy trying to connect are looking for things that are not there. that is how we do business every day. into youryou came

current role, you were critical of the investigation. now that you have seen briefings, is there anything that concerns you about special counsel robert mueller? acting atty general whitaker: i have been fully briefed, and i look forward to director mueller delivering the final report. itm not going to talk about or an open ongoing investigation, but statements i made were as private citizen only with publicly available information. i am comfortable that the decisions that were made are going to be reviewed, either through the means we have now, but right now the investigation is close to being completed, and i hope we can get the report from director mueller as soon as possible. >> thank you all.

>> president trump will give his state of the union address next week on tuesday that very 5, 1 week later than originally scheduled. it was postponed during the shutdown. watch him on tuesday that very five at 8:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span. c-span, where history

unfolded daily. in 1979, c-span was created by america's cable television companies, and today we continue to bring you until to coverage of congress, the white house, the supreme court, and public policy events in washington, d.c. and around the country. c-span is brought to you by your cable or satellite provider. is some of our live coverage tuesday, the u.s. house considers homeland security, including a measure to assess terrorist use of currencies. also a resolution calling for financial institutions to work with customers facing damage to their credit as a result of the government shutdown. ont is 10:00 a.m. eastern c-span. on c-span2, michael bloomberg

talks with students, his first stop on a tour of new hampshire while considering a 2020 residential run. in forthe senate gavels work on a middle east security bill. it would fund security assistance to israel, and allow sanctions against syria. on c-spancoverage three, at 9:30 a.m. the senate intelligence committee on global security threats. later, congressional budget office director goes before the senate budget committee to talk about the u.s. economic outlook. at the white house briefing, national security advisor john bolton and treasury secretary steve mnuchin announced new sanctions against venezuela's state owned oil company in response to nicolas maduro's refusal to step down after being declared