No, Donald Trump Did Not ‘spy’ On Xi Jinping’s Private Notes. Here’s The Truth Behind The Viral Video

2 min readMay 16, 2026 01:19 PM IST

As US President Donald Trump wrapped up his high-profile China visit this week, one particular moment from the trip unexpectedly took over social media timelines. A short clip from a state banquet attended by Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping went viral online, with several users claiming it showed the US President secretly peeking into Xi Jinping’s notebook while the Chinese leader briefly stepped away from the table. However, the claim has now been found to be misleading.

The clip began circulating widely after Trump concluded his three-day state visit to China on Friday, May 15, 2026. The visit focused on trade tensions, global security concerns and economic cooperation between the world’s two largest economies.

The video showed Trump seated alongside US Secretary of State Marco Rubio during the state banquet. While Xi Jinping briefly stepped away, Trump was seen opening and looking into a folder placed in front of him before quickly shutting it.

However, the claim was later flagged as misleading through Community Notes on X, which linked another video that has the longer version of the entire sequence of events from the same event showing Trump carrying the folder himself.

This is a fake claim
The notebook actually belongs to Trump himself — you can see him grab it before heading to the stage for a toast in the video
Full AP live feed of the banquet speeches: https://t.co/TD2cGiEbEk
See for yourself from 12:04 onward, when Xi returns after his… pic.twitter.com/Trucb7KCVO
— Diamond Feed (@DiamondFeedX) May 15, 2026

Trump This user had shared the same video on their account which was flagged by Community Notes on X

A logo visible on the folder was also identified through reverse image searches online. Following the clarification, several users who had shared the claim began deleting their posts.

Once X began flagging the video, many users were seen taking it down from their accounts.

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