Daily Wire Asks Trump About Jailed Publisher Jimmy Lai, He Responds With Message To Beijing

Go to Article

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump vowed Monday to plead Jimmy Lai’s case to Chinese President Xi JinPing, telling The Daily Wire, “I’m going to bring his name up.”

The president discussed his upcoming trip to China during an Oval Office announcement on maternal healthcare. When the president took questions from reporters, the Daily Wire told Trump that Claire Lai, Jimmy Lai’s adult daughter, believes that Trump has the power to free her father, a Catholic media tycoon imprisoned by the Chinese government.

“He has very much earned the title of liberator in chief,” she told The Daily Wire on Monday morning. “I believed and dad believed it would be this administration that would free him.”

Trump promised that he would speak to President Xi about Lai, who is 78 years old. In February, Lai was sentenced to 20 years in prison under a national security law used by the Chinese Communist Party to crack down on dissenters.

Given his age and declining health, the CCP’s sentence means he’ll die in prison — unless Trump can save him.

“There’s another gentleman, a minister, a pastor, as you know,” Trump pointed out to The Daily Wire, referring to Pastor Ezra Jin, who is also unjustly imprisoned. “I’ll bring them both up.”

“Somebody has to ask him,” the president added. “Biden never asked. We asked, and we were getting hundreds of people out of confinement and prisons that shouldn’t be there. And hundreds — and many of them aren’t even citizens of the United States. There are people that have been captured in some form, ministers, and people that are really innocent people, and they’re being held captive. And I bring up Jimmy.”

Trump’s next comments suggested that Xi might be loath to part with his political prisoner, who was targeted by the Chinese government for his pro-democracy activism.

“Now, Jimmy Lai, you know, did — he caused a lot of bedlam,” Trump added. “You know, I don’t know. It’s like saying to me, if Comey ever went to jail, would you let him out? Eh, that’s — it might be a hard one for me. Does that make sense? It might be hard with me, you know, because he’s a dirty cop.”

“But Jimmy Lai isn’t that way,” Trump continued. “But Jimmy Lai — he caused lots of turmoil for China. He tried to do the right thing. He wasn’t successful. He went to jail, and people would like him out. And I’d like to see him get out too. So, I’ll bring him up again. I have brought him up. There’s another gentleman, a pastor, as you know, with a beautiful daughter and son-in-law that would like to see him get out. I’m going to bring his name up.”

Lai is a Chinese-born British citizen who published “Apple Daily” in Hong Kong from 1995 to 2021. Chinese authorities arrested top executives at the publication and froze its assets in 2021, and, after a two-year trial and five-year detention, Lai was convicted in December 2025 of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and publish seditious material.

He is considered the most high-profile political prisoner in Hong Kong.

Trump will arrive in China on Wednesday evening. On Thursday morning, he will participate in a welcome ceremony and a bilateral meeting with President Xi, then tour the Temple of Heaven with President Xi on Thursday afternoon, and that evening, he will attend a state banquet. Trump will participate in a bilateral tea and working lunch with President Xi on Friday morning before heading home.

The White House expects to host President Xi and his wife, Madam Peng Liyuan, for a reciprocal visit in D.C. later this year.



Comment on this Article Via Your Disqus Account