Donald Trump just welcomed Xi Jinping back to the White House for a state dinner in honor of the Chinese leader that will not be televised because the White House continued to deny full access to the event to CNN journalists on Thursday, despite a court order. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing The Guardian.
Donald and Melania Trump posed for a photograph with China's president, Xi Jinping, and his wife, Peng Liyuan, ahead of a state dinner at the White House on Thursday. They posed near a painting Trump hung of himself raising his first after a 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Xi's arrival for the dinner, with his wife Peng Liyuan, was streamed live on YouTube by the White House, but none of the major US networks provided live broadcast video of the event after the Trump administration refused to allow a CNN reporter and producer to cover the event.
"About an hour before Xi's arrival was scheduled, the White House said CNN could cover the event but only with a photojournalist and audio technician, notably excluding the network's editorial team consisting of a reporter and producer," CNN reports.
CNN is one of the five major networks that provide pool video coverage of White House events to other broadcasters, in a rotation determined by the White House press office.
The other networks – ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox News – have refused to resume video coverage of White House events until full access has been restored to CNN.
MS NOW, another outlet banned from the White House by Trump last week for what he calls overly negative coverage of his presidency, also reports it journalists were prevented from covering Xi's arrival for the state dinner.
The live YouTube stream of Xi's arrival attracted just 18,000 views on the White House YouTube channel.