ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and Fox News paused White House broadcasts after the White House barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico from its press pool. On a Daily Beast podcast, hosts criticized Trump’s state dinner for Xi, citing allegations of Chinese help to Iran.
Dougherty said Xi again warned about the Thucydides Trap—the theory that war may follow when an established power feels threatened by a rising one. He alleged China was supplying Iran with rocket-fuel components and sharing intelligence on U.S. assets. He also cited a CNN-reported intelligence leak that he said suggested China was providing real-time information about movements in the Strait of Hormuz. Coles said China buys “90 percent, I think,” of Iranian oil. Trump invited Xi to tour the ballroom under construction, which he said was a year from completion.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. During the networks’ reduced coverage, Trump appeared less often on television and was sometimes inaudible even on the White House livestream; wire-service photographs of him were also postponed. Dougherty said the press pool would maintain its limited coverage until CNN was back in the pool.
