Trump points Xi to Biden autopen display during White House summit

President Trump pointed Chinese President Xi Jinping to a White House display mocking Joe Biden's autopen, drawing laughter during their high-stakes summit.

President Donald Trump escorted Chinese President Xi Jinping along the White House colonnade on Thursday and made sure the visiting leader saw the new presidential portrait display, including a depiction that jabbed former President Joe Biden over the autopen.

In video shared by a White House aide and described in Newsweek reporting, Trump walked Xi past the portraits, pointed, and delivered the line with a grin: "Trump, and then Trump, and this is the autopen." He added, "It's Biden." Xi and members of the Chinese entourage laughed.

The moment fit a larger day of ceremony, public friendship, and hard-edged talks on U.S.-China relations. It also put a spotlight on how this White House treats the last administration's record, and how it hosts a rival power without soft-pedaling American grievances.

Colonnade joke lands as summit pageantry rolls on

The escort past the colonnade display was one piece of a tightly staged Thursday. Trump and Xi moved through public events on the South Lawn and later a military review in the Rose Garden with first ladies Melania Trump and Peng Liyuan. Trump then took Xi aboard Marine One from the new White House helipad.

Xi left the White House around 1:30 p.m. ET and was due back for a state dinner that evening. Trump told reporters, "We had a great meeting."

On the South Lawn, both leaders struck a cordial public tone. Trump thanked Xi for "spectacular and very beautiful hospitality" on prior trips and said the two men had "forged a friendship, a truly great friendship, actually." He framed U.S.-China cooperation through the World War II alliance and promised to work with Xi "as our people worked together to win that war."

Xi called for stronger communication and a "constructive, strategic and stable" relationship. He said the two countries differ in national condition but can "seek common ground while shelving differences and build up mutual trust" through candid dialogue. He also said healthy competition should be "kept within bounds," that the militaries could "maintain regular dialogue," and that both nations have the "capability and responsibility" to keep artificial intelligence "under human control and serves the well-being of the people."

Trump announced the pair would visit the National Archives on Friday to view the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights as the United States marks the 250th anniversary of its founding. That kind of public staging has become familiar as Trump pairs ceremony with concrete foreign-policy moves, including when Trump signed Russia and Iran sanctions into law.

Beijing's readout covers Iran, Ukraine, and Korea

Chinese state media and a Beijing readout said the talks touched Iran, Russia's war in Ukraine, and tensions on the Korean Peninsula. Xi urged a return to diplomacy between Washington and Tehran and backed renewed dialogue aimed at a broader, long-term agreement that would include Iran's nuclear program. Beijing also voiced support for regional summits.

As of 6:30 p.m., the White House had not released a detailed public account of the Ukraine and North Korea portions of the conversation. Trump deflected shouted questions on Iran, Taiwan, and AI with a deadpan aside about stone: "He likes granite," Trump said of Xi. "He's an expert on stone, aside from many other things, and he loves good granite."

The Iran track sits against a record of U.S. pressure and military signaling. Trump has not treated Tehran as a talking point alone; he has also shared dramatic AI video after strikes on Iranian targets, a reminder that diplomacy and force can travel together.

Xi brought a softer deliverable as well. "The giant panda has been an envoy of friendship between the Chinese and Americans," he said. "Here, I have a piece of good news. In a few days, two pandas, Pingping and Fushuang, will come to their new home in Zoo Atlanta and meet with the American people."

Chinese press scrum leaves U.S. reporters pinned

Outside the polished optics, the press pool turned rough. Correspondents described Chinese media pushing and shoving for position ahead of Xi's movements. Connor Stringer, chief Washington correspondent for The Telegraph, wrote of "chaos," "lots of shouting and raised voices," and Chinese journalists who "push and shove their way into position." He noted a prior incident in which Chinese media trampled a White House staff member during Trump's state visit to Beijing.

Mary Margaret Olohan, White House correspondent for The Daily Wire, put it more bluntly on X: "Currently: squashed against a wall by Chinese press." Secret Service requests to move people were reportedly ignored amid the noise. Trump joked that the Chinese delegation had the "friendliest press corps."

That contrast matters. Major Chinese outlets operate under the direction of the Chinese Communist Party, not as an independent press. American reporters still fight for access under court orders and White House rules. Several CNN, MS NOW, and Politico reporters said they were initially denied entry Thursday despite a federal judge's order restoring credentials, then allowed back shortly before a court-imposed compliance deadline.

Last week the White House rejected claims it had improperly shut outlets out of the Oval Office. In a statement to Newsweek it said: "The Fake News has no place demanding a spot in the President's Oval Office. The lies they smear are a disservice to the American public and tear at the very fabric of our Democracy. They're completely capable of reporting from directly outside."

CNN's Kaitlan Collins had reported that longtime Trump aide Natalie Harp showed the president coverage that fed those access fights. The White House dismissed that account. Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff later named Harp in a Georgia campaign speech criticizing Trump, a side skirmish far from the colonnade joke that defined the day's imagery.

Truth Social photo draws AI scrutiny

Thursday morning, before the White House events fully unfolded, Trump posted an image on Truth Social of himself with Xi near the Chinese leader's aircraft at Joint Base Andrews. The post carried the words "Only Trump." A B-1 bomber was visible. Observers compared it with an original wire photo and noted differences in appearance, clothing details, and who stood in the background, including questions about whether Harp or White House Protocol Chief Monica Crowley was shown.

Siwei Lyu, director of the University at Buffalo's Media Forensic Lab, told Newsweek by email that the lab's "DeepFake-o-meter" tools classified the image as "likely AI-created," citing distortions and inconsistencies. Newsweek said it sought White House comment on the image. Melania Trump attended the Wednesday arrival ceremony at Andrews with Peng Liyuan and a B-1 flyover, but she did not appear in the Thursday morning photo Trump shared.

In a recent Fox & Friends interview, Melania said of Xi's visit: "He's coming on our soil, and we need to welcome them with the most respect." The administration paired that hospitality with the kind of transactional hard line Trump has used elsewhere, from energy stockpiles to trade, including when Trump moved to replenish strategic reserves with Venezuelan crude.

Friendship talk meets a sharper American frame

Pro-Beijing welcome banners went up outside the gates. Counter-protesters answered with chants of "Down with Xi Jinping" and "Shame on Xi Jinping." Inside, the script stayed upbeat: friendship language, pandas, founding documents, and a state dinner. The autopen beat cut through the polish.

Trump did not bury the Biden jab in a private aside. He walked China's leader past it, named it, and let the room laugh. For voters who watched years of questions about who was running the prior White House, and how documents got signed, the display was not subtle. It was the point.

Trade and leverage remain part of the same posture. Trump has shown he will follow through when talks stall, as when he banned Canadian dairy, alcohol, and motorcycle imports in a deepening trade fight. Beijing heard warm words on Thursday. It also saw a president willing to put his predecessor's weakest symbols on the wall.

Wednesday's arrival at Joint Base Andrews set the ceremonial tone. Thursday delivered the bilateral meeting, the South Lawn remarks, the Rose Garden review, and the colonnade moment that will travel farther than any readout. Friday's National Archives stop will put both men in front of America's founding charters. The White House still owed the public a fuller account of what was said on Ukraine and North Korea.

Leaders can smile for the cameras and still keep score. Trump made sure Xi saw the scoreboard, presidents who show up, and the autopen that stood in for one who often did not.