U.S. President Donald Trump said he would raise the release of Jimmy Lai and Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri with Chinese President Xi Jinping as families of Chinese political prisoners gathered outside the White House in the rain to advocate for their release.
Trump is set to travel to Beijing May 13–15 with a focus on trade, Taiwan, the Iran conflict, and emerging technology issues. Trump said the release of Lai, the jailed Catholic media tycoon and democracy advocate, also will be brought up.
“Jimmy Lai, he caused lots of turmoil for China,” Trump said to reporters in the Oval Office on May 11. “He tried to do the right thing, he wasn’t successful, went to jail, and people would like him out, and I’d like to see him get out too, so I’ll bring him up again. I have brought him up.”
Trump said asking the Chinese president to release Lai would be akin to Xi Jinping asking him to release indicted former FBI Director James Comey if he was imprisoned. Comey was indicted on April 28 by a federal grand jury in North Carolina for posting seashells on Instagram arranged to show “86 47,” which prosecutors claim is a threat to kill or harm the president.
“Itʼs like saying to me, ‘If Comey ever went to jail, would you let him out?’ This might be a hard one for me,” Trump said. “Because he’s a dirty cop. But Jimmy isn’t that way.”
Lai “caused a lot of bedlam” and “turmoil” for China, Trump said.
More than 100 U.S. lawmakers have urged Trump to prioritize Lai’s release on humanitarian grounds due to his failing health in prison. Lai was charged with violations of Hong Kong’s national security law and sentenced to 20 years in prison on Feb. 9.
“There’s another gentleman, a pastor, as you know, with a beautiful daughter and son-in-law that would like to see him get out,” Trump said, referencing Jin.
Trump has previously vowed to raise both Lai and Jin’s cases.
Families, advocates rally
Frances Hui, policy and advocacy manager at the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, was the primary speaker at a rally May 11 near the White House co-hosted by the Luke Alliance, the International Campaign for Tibet, the Campaign for Uyghurs, and the Uyghur Human Rights Project. She described to EWTN News the stakes of Trump’s upcoming visit.
“In a matter of days, President Trump will get on a plane and go to China, and this will be the first time that he meets Xi Jinping after Jimmy Lai gets sentenced to 20 years in prison, and actually the first time in this presidency,” she said. “So, it’s an important trip.”
“There are so many hundreds and thousands of Christians in China being imprisoned for their faith,” she said, highlighting other religious minorities including Muslims and other “ethnic communities that are being imprisoned simply for holding their faith.”
“So, we are here to just call their names, say their names, and remind President Trump this is the time to turn his commitment into action,” she said.
Jin’s daughter, Grace Jin Drexel, also rallied outside the White House.
In her remarks, delivered in the pouring rain, Drexel thanked Trump for previously pledging to take up her father’s cause and reiterated calls for him to advocate for her father’s release alongside other political prisoners.
“My father, Pastor Ezra Jin, has been detained for more than 200 days today,” Drexel told EWTN News after the event. “We hope and pray that with this trip, upcoming summit, that my father will be able to rejoin his family members in the U.S. as soon as possible. We pray for a miracle.”
“We hope that the president will be able to bring back my father,” she said.
Gao Pu, son of detained Chinese pastor Gao Quanfu, and his wife, Pang Yu, also delivered remarks at the rally on his parents’ behalf. The Chinese government detained Pu’s father on May 17, 2025, and his mother less than a month later on June 7.
Pu said the Chinese government detained his parents “simply because they’re Christians.”
“My father’s church has been around for 40 years. It’s one of the most influential underground house churches across the country,” he said. “And my mom, just because she’s the pastor’s wife, she also got detained as well.”
Pu said his mother was initially charged with “using superstition to undermine the implementation of the law” but that in early January, his parents’ cases were both submitted separately to the Chinese courts as “fraud.”
“They’re treating donations and tithes and all that stuff as illegitimate because the church refuses to conform to their rules,” he said, noting that their cases have seen continuous delays. “Less than a month ago their case was delayed again, so we’re looking at mid- to late-July.”
Pu said the Chinese government has been “attacking” his parents’ lawyers. “So many lawyers had their licenses either revoked or suspended,” he said, noting his mother has had three separate lawyers.
“Given the overall situation that, you know, the political environment in China, it is actually very difficult to find lawyers who are actually still willing to take on cases like this because their own livelihood could also be at risk,” Pu said.
Pu said his father and Jin had both shared the same lawyer, Zhang Kai, whom he described as “a famous Christian lawyer who is known for defending cases like this.”
“His whole firm just got basically dissolved because he chose to defend my dad and also Pastor Ezra Jin.”
Members of Congress including Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon; Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Michigan; and Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Massachusetts, also sent statements to be read at the rally.
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