Fact Check: Trump DIDN'T peek into Xi Jinping's private notebook
A video of Trump from his China visit has gone viral, with claims that he was caught peeking into Chinese President Xi Jinping's private notebook. Here are the facts.
India Today Fact Check
US President Donald Trump wrapped up his two-day state visit to Beijing on May 15. Both he and Chinese President Xi Jinping praised the summit for improving bilateral ties, though no breakthroughs were announced.
A video now going viral purports to show Trump taking a sneak peek at Xi Jinping’s "private notebook" during the summit. Sharing the video, an X user wrote, "Trump caught sneaking a peek at Xi Jinping’s private notebook during a Beijing banquet while Xi stepped away!" Its archive can be viewed here- https://ghostarchive.org/
But is that what happened? Let’s break this down:
We found a longer version of the video shared by NBC News on May 14. It was the state banquet held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Around the 1-minute-50-seconds mark, Jinping, who was seated to Trump’s left, gets up and walks to the podium. After this, we see the viral clip of Trump opening the folder kept to his left and flipping through a few pages. Click the link - https://youtu.be/Pang-t16vNw?
The White House also uploaded a video of the event on its YouTube channel. This video contained wider shots and no cuts. Two minutes into the video, the announcer says, "And now a toast by President Xi," after which Jinping gets up. This is soon followed by Trump opening the folder kept on his left and reading something.
Later in the video, at around twelve minutes, when Jinping returned to his seat, Trump got up, took the folder with him, placed it on the podium, turned some pages, and read from it. The same can be seen in the NBC News video at 11 minutes and 50 seconds.
This clearly means that the folder belonged to Trump and that the US president was not peeking into his Chinese counterpart’s private notebook.
One more notable detail is the emblem embossed on the folder. It resembles the Seal of the President of the United States. At the centre, the same American bald eagle, the national bird of the United States, can be seen. A comparison between the screenshot from the viral clip and the actual seal shows that they appear identical.
Thus, it is evident that the folder belonged to the US president. The claims that he peeked at Xi Jinping’s personal notebook are misleading and baseless.
US President Donald Trump wrapped up his two-day state visit to Beijing on May 15. Both he and Chinese President Xi Jinping praised the summit for improving bilateral ties, though no breakthroughs were announced.
A video now going viral purports to show Trump taking a sneak peek at Xi Jinping’s "private notebook" during the summit. Sharing the video, an X user wrote, "Trump caught sneaking a peek at Xi Jinping’s private notebook during a Beijing banquet while Xi stepped away!" Its archive can be viewed here- https://ghostarchive.org/
But is that what happened? Let’s break this down:
We found a longer version of the video shared by NBC News on May 14. It was the state banquet held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Around the 1-minute-50-seconds mark, Jinping, who was seated to Trump’s left, gets up and walks to the podium. After this, we see the viral clip of Trump opening the folder kept to his left and flipping through a few pages. Click the link - https://youtu.be/Pang-t16vNw?
The White House also uploaded a video of the event on its YouTube channel. This video contained wider shots and no cuts. Two minutes into the video, the announcer says, "And now a toast by President Xi," after which Jinping gets up. This is soon followed by Trump opening the folder kept on his left and reading something.
Later in the video, at around twelve minutes, when Jinping returned to his seat, Trump got up, took the folder with him, placed it on the podium, turned some pages, and read from it. The same can be seen in the NBC News video at 11 minutes and 50 seconds.
This clearly means that the folder belonged to Trump and that the US president was not peeking into his Chinese counterpart’s private notebook.
One more notable detail is the emblem embossed on the folder. It resembles the Seal of the President of the United States. At the centre, the same American bald eagle, the national bird of the United States, can be seen. A comparison between the screenshot from the viral clip and the actual seal shows that they appear identical.
Thus, it is evident that the folder belonged to the US president. The claims that he peeked at Xi Jinping’s personal notebook are misleading and baseless.