“CNN and MS NOW were denied entry to cover a state dinner at the White House Thursday night despite a federal judge ordering that their access be restored,” The Wrap reports.
“President Donald Trump hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping at a state dinner at the White House on Thursday night. When reporters from the outlets attempted to cover arrivals at the event, officials from the Trump administration told them they were not allowed to do so.”
“In an emergency request Thursday, the Trump administration urged the Supreme Court to revive its policy of deporting some migrants to places other than their country of origin, a practice that was struck down by a lower court on the grounds that it violates deportees’ due process rights,” CBS News reports.
“The Trump administration appears to be running a new ad on Fox News that has drawn criticism from Democrats as violating federal rules preventing the use of tax dollars for political purposes,” ABC News reports.
New York Magazine: “When you’re an American president greeting an authoritarian leader like Chinese president Xi Jinping, things will always be a bit uncomfortable. And Donald Trump is in a particularly tricky spot since he has been blasting Democrats as ‘communists’ nonstop but is now doing some high-profile palling around with the head of the Chinese Communist Party.”
“Yet maybe Trump didn’t need to literally roll out the red carpet and go out of his way to make his first interaction with Xi on Thursday as awkward as possible.”
“President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s full day in Washington has so far yielded few announcements, despite a host of thorny issues on the table,” Semafor reports.
“Xi arrived at the White House Thursday morning for an Oval Office meeting with Trump, where the pair were expected to discuss everything from trade to counternarcotics to artificial intelligence. But little has emerged since, including any details on a ‘bigger’ trade deal between the countries.”
The Economist: What Donald Trump’s meeting with Xi Jinping has—and hasn’t—achieved.
NBC News: GOP senators criticize Trump’s “red-carpet treatment” of China’s Xi Jinping.
“President Trump showed off some of the construction that he’s had done at the White House to President Xi Jinping of China during their summit on Thursday, and Mr. Trump had reasons to want the Chinese leader’s nod of approval,” the New York Times reports.
“Throughout the uproar over Mr. Trump’s demolition of the East Wing and construction of a grandiose ballroom on the site, the American president has repeatedly cited the Great Hall of the People in China as inspiration and competition with his own design.”
“On the first full day of Mr. Xi’s visit, Mr. Trump gave him a brief tour of the ballroom construction site, as well as the helipad project that was officially opened this week. Mr. Trump called the Chinese leader ‘an expert on stone’ who ‘loves good granite’ as Mr. Xi stood by without changing his expression.”
“Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said during a lengthy interview this week that he has prepared for the possibility, however unlikely, of a U.S. incursion onto Canadian soil,” the Washington Sun reports.
“The stunning remarks come as President Donald Trump has increased his provocations of America’s northern neighbor and embarked on a bitter trade war that has prompted a strong response from Carney.”
“The Trump administration scrambled on Thursday to halt a number of imminent deportations after an appeals court blocked authorities from expelling people to third countries without a chance to contest their cases,” the New York Times reports.
“Reporters for CNN and MS NOW were allowed to re-enter the White House grounds around noon on Thursday, the latest development in an ongoing standoff between President Trump and the press corps that covers him,” the New York Times reports.
“It was not initially clear if the administration had changed its stance on the judge’s order, or if the journalists were blocked because of confusion among security personnel.”
“Three federal appeals courts have rejected President Trump’s go-to move in trying to install allies as United States attorneys, the officials who lead the prosecutors’ offices in the nation’s 94 judicial districts. In each case, the courts said Trump had violated a law that limits who can run the offices when there are vacancies,” the New York Times reports.
“Those decisions have complicated Trump’s efforts to investigate and prosecute his political foes.”
“The administration this month asked the Supreme Court to review two of the decisions, warning that they ‘risk chaos’ and threaten ‘to inject mass confusion’ into thousands of ordinary cases.”
“CNN, MS NOW and Politico requested an emergency hearing after they were again blocked from accessing the White House on Thursday despite a federal judge’s early-morning ruling ordering the government to restore their credentials,” the Washington Post reports.
Axios: White House defies court order, doesn’t reinstate access for banned reporters.
New York Times: “When the Department of Homeland Security sent Nevada a list of 185 names last month that it claimed identified noncitizens who had been improperly allowed to register to vote, state election officials got to work.”
“On Tuesday, the state sent a strongly worded rebuke to the federal government: Every single person on the list was a lawful citizen.”
“The conversations we have are not just those of a mayor and a president, but those of two New Yorkers — New Yorkers with many differences of opinion, but who love this city.”
— New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, quoted by Mother Jones, on why President Trump seems to like him so much.
“In late 2008, at the height of the Great Recession and amid two wars in the Middle East, President George W. Bush posted a historic-low approval rating of just 22 percent. Donald Trump may be coming for that crown — and with some voters, he’s more unpopular than ever,” Rolling Stone reports.
“A series of recent polls shows that while Trump’s overall approval rating is still hovering a little above 30 percent, some of the details behind the numbers are particularly devastating for an incumbent president seeking to guide his party through a contentious set of midterm elections.”
“A poll from CNN released this week, for instance, shows that Trump’s approval among independents is an anemic 25 percent. The network highlighted that his net approval among independents has shifted 86 points in the wrong direction since before the 2024 election. Trump’s popularity is also cratering within his own party. A recent UMass/Amherst poll found that his approval among Republicans has dropped 14 points since March, and that one in six people who voted for him would not vote for him again. Unfortunately for Republicans, Trump insisted “I’m on the ballot!” while speaking at the party’s midterm convention earlier this month.”
“President Xi Jinping has a loaded itinerary for the first full day of his trip to the U.S. – a journey made nearly a decade after the Chinese leader’s previous visit – including formal talks with U.S. President Donald Trump, who travelled to Beijing in May,” the South China Morning Post reports.
“According to a schedule released by the Trump administration, the day will begin with an arrival ceremony at the White House. As the two leaders hold an official dialogue, U.S. first lady Melania Trump will accompany her Chinese counterpart, Peng Liyuan, to the National Museum of Asian Art. The couples will reunite for a state dinner in the evening.”
Washington Post: Trump courts Xi with pomp as China seeks greater global influence.
G. Elliot Morris: “Our historical polling averages show the president’s updated rating is worse than George W. Bush’s second-term approval rating on the eve of the 2006 midterm that cost Republicans both chambers of Congress.”
“And public mood is approaching where it was toward Richard Nixon during Watergate, in the months before he resigned in disgrace.”
Jonathan Lemire: “Not long ago, President Trump could claim that he ran the world. Now he’s waiting at the bottom of a set of airline steps for the Chinese president.”
“A federal judge has ordered that access to the White House be temporarily restored for reporters from CNN, MS NOW and Politico after they were banned by President Donald Trump, but on Thursday morning some journalists from the outlets were denied entry,” the Washington Post reports.
Washington Sun: Reporter turned away from the White House hours after court order.
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
Goddard is the owner of Goddard Media LLC.
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