> In a wide-ranging interview on Wednesday, Himes told POLITICO he left the briefing given by heads of U.S. intelligence agencies to top lawmakers on the House and Senate intelligence committees without clarity on whether Alice Huang knowingly cultivated information for the Chinese government on the $4 trillion U.S. chip company, or was a “useful idiot” unaware of China’s wider espionage activities.

This is a far more nuanced statement than you're portraying it to be. He appears comfortable with the spying conclusion, just not who was in on the chain of command. (An "unwitting spy"; https://www.nytimes.com/1990/10/15/world/roosevelt-aide-call...)

The sanctions evasion and $25M donation to the White House ballroom project around that time raise other questions relevant to the firing.