Gov. Ned Lamont is back in Connecticut after a weeklong trip to Israel where he met with nearly 20 companies that are thinking about expanding to the United States.

"Israeli companies have thought about New York and New Jersey, mainly New York. Hundreds of companies from Israel have moved to New York - hundreds," said Lamont.

"It's a tech hub. A lot of the biggest companies in the world -- their most productive R&D, from Intel to Microsoft, Google -- a lot of their most productive R&D is happening over there in Israel," said Connecticut Innovations CEO Matt McCooe.

Connecticut is targeting four industries: financial tech, biotech, aerospace and defense, and food and AgTech.

This is the first time a Connecticut governor has visited Israel since John Rowland back in 1997.

The governor was also asked Monday about the federal investigation into his budget office. On Friday, budget director Melissa McCaw resigned. Lamont says, let the FBI investigation play out.

"When it comes to the press, remember, you're innocent until proven guilty. There's a lot of allegations out there and everybody says 'allegation' and then they try it," said Lamont.