Kudlow: Trump did not know about plan to arrest Huawei executive

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Sunday that President Trump did not know of the plan to arrest a top executive of a Chinese tech firm before it happened.

“He did not know,” Kudlow said on “Fox News Sunday,” when asked if Trump knew about the arrest of Huawei’s chief financial officer when he sat down for dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 summit last weekend.

Meng Wanzhou was detained on the same day Trump reached a trade truce with Jinping, but news of her arrest did not break until Wednesday.

It had previously been unclear if Trump knew of Meng’s arrest as he discussed a trade deal with the Chinese leader last weekend. 

{mosads}National security adviser John Bolton said Thursday that he did not know if Trump knew of Meng’s arrest, which threatens to reignite the trade dispute between the U.S. and China.

A White House spokesman later told The Hill that Trump did not have advance knowledge.

China has demanded Meng’s release. She faces potential extradition to the U.S. for her suspected violation of U.S. trade sanctions on Iran.

Kudlow added on Sunday that Trump “had no reaction” after he heard of her arrest.

Fox’s Chris Wallace pressed Kudlow, noting that reports have said the president was “livid” that Canada arrested Meng as he worked to reach a trade deal with China. 

“Regarding the Huawei prosecution, let me just say that’s a law enforcement action, primarily Department of Justice,” Kudlow said. “It is a very important issue because the evidence suggests, at least so far … that Huawei did break the Iranian sanctions through different financial channels.”

“We will see how that plays out,” he added.

.@larry_kudlow tells Chris that President Trump did not know about the arrest of Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Chinese tech company Huawei, during his meeting with President Xi. pic.twitter.com/IlQvE4XhIR

— FoxNewsSunday (@FoxNewsSunday) December 9, 2018