Xi Told Trump Jimmy Lai Is His 'Worst Nightmare' — No Release Coming

Xi's Answer Was Clear. And Trump Said So.

There is no diplomatic ambiguity here. Trump told Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier on Friday that when he brought up 78-year-old imprisoned Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai, Xi Jinping's response was not positive.

"I brought up Jimmy Lai. I would say the response to that was not positive," Trump said. "He said it's been sort of his worst nightmare."

That's the Chinese Communist Party's view of a man who built a pro-democracy newspaper and used it to criticize Beijing. Lai has been imprisoned since 2020 and is currently serving a life sentence for sedition and conspiracy to commit collusion with foreign forces.

Trump told Baier he appealed to Xi on humanitarian grounds: "I said, well, I would appreciate it if you would release him. He's gotten old and he's probably not feeling too well, it would be nice."

The president's own assessment: "I did not feel optimistic. I have to be honest with you about that one."

What Changed Since Our Last Coverage

When Trump flew to Beijing with a delegation of CEOs, Lai's case was listed as one of the agenda items. The question was whether it would get real traction or get lost in the trade and tech negotiations.

Now we have the answer — directly from Trump, on the record. Xi didn't just push back. He used the word nightmare. Beijing's view of the case couldn't be clearer, and neither could Washington's leverage on this specific issue.

According to the Washington Post, Xi did offer one sliver of daylight: he told Trump he'd consider the case of a detained pastor — name not publicly confirmed — but flagged Lai's situation as a "tough one." So Beijing is willing to make a small gesture on a lower-profile prisoner while holding the line on Lai.

That's a deliberate signal. The CCP knows Lai is symbolic. Releasing him would be an admission that jailing him was wrong.

The Comey Comparison Was Strange

Before the summit, Trump made a comment that deserved more scrutiny.

On May 11, Trump compared Lai to James Comey. According to the Associated Press via PBS, Trump told reporters: "Jimmy Lai, you know, he caused a lot of bedlam. It's like saying to me, 'if Comey ever went to jail, would you let him out?' That might be a hard one for me."

Comey is a political opponent Trump fired. Lai is a journalist imprisoned by an authoritarian government for criticizing that government. The comparison conflates a domestic political dispute with a case of foreign government suppression of free speech — and that's exactly how Beijing wants the world to see it.

Trump also said, in the same breath, "I'd like to see him get out too" — so he did raise it. But the Comey analogy framed a human rights case as a political grudge match.

Left-leaning outlets like the Washington Post buried the Comey comparison or mentioned it briefly. Right-leaning outlets like Fox News largely skipped over it in their post-summit reporting. Both sides had reasons to soft-pedal it.

Lai's Daughter Had Hope. Here's the Reality.

Before the summit, Lai's daughter Claire told Fox News's Will Cain Show: "I'm more hopeful than I've ever been that he is the president and this is the administration that will free my father."

That hope now runs directly into Xi calling her father his "worst nightmare."

Trump did raise it. He made the ask directly to Xi. That's more than the Biden administration did in any meaningful public way. Trump also reminded Baier that he's secured hundreds of prisoner releases without paying ransom, contrasting himself with Biden's approach: "I don't pay a lot of money. I don't pay any money, like Biden, where they give $6 billion all the time."

The $6 billion figure refers to the unfreezing of Iranian assets in 2023 tied to prisoner releases — a deal that was widely criticized and is fair to flag. Trump's record on hostage diplomacy through pressure rather than payment is, factually, more consistent.

But none of that changes what Xi said about Lai.

What the Coverage Misses

Most outlets are framing this as "Trump tried, China said no." That's accurate but incomplete.

Xi's language was unusually blunt. Leaders don't typically say someone is their "worst nightmare" in diplomatic settings unless they want that message delivered back home — to dissidents, to Hong Kong residents, and to every other government watching. This was a warning wrapped in a diplomatic conversation. Beijing is telling the world that Lai stays locked up, no matter who asks.

The Bottom Line

Jimmy Lai is 78 years old, reportedly in declining health, and serving a life sentence in a Chinese prison for running a newspaper. The most powerful leader on earth asked for his release and got told no.

If the United States can't move Beijing on a sick 78-year-old man, every other government and every other dissident in Hong Kong should take note. The trade deal talks, the CEO photo ops, the diplomatic handshakes — none of it moved the needle on the one case with a human being's life attached to it.

Free press. Personal liberty. Accountability for authoritarian governments. Those principles have to mean something.