Trump rolls out red carpet for Xi Jinping at first White House meeting

President Donald Trump welcomed Chinese president Xi Jinping to the White House on Thursday, their first meeting there, marked by conspicuous deference to a leader whose country ranks 178th in Reporters Without Borders' press freedom index — ahead of only North Korea and Eritrea. Chinese state media were admitted to the grounds while U.S. outlets including CNN, MS Now and Politico remained banned under Trump's restrictions, a contrast former diplomat Michael McFaul called "wrong and embarrassing." The setting included a portrait of a bloodied Trump with raised fist, hung where Barack Obama's portrait once was.