Fox & Friends was left with egg on its face after getting first lady Melania Trump and its own contributor, Lara Trump, in a terrible tangle.
The show was running live coverage of President Donald Trump’s arrival in Beijing on Wednesday, as he and various officials stepped off Air Force One onto a red carpet lined with people waving both Chinese and American flags.
Regular hosts Brian Kilmeade, Ainsley Earhardt, and Lawrence Jones were on the couch, hearing from former aide to President George W. Bush, Michael Allen, when Trump and his posse began to descend the steps.
“Michael, so sorry to interrupt you. We’re going to actually listen in to this greeting real quick, and we’ll circle back with you,” Jones said.
Audio from the scene began to filter in as a band could be heard playing over the sound of Air Force One.
“As the first lady comes down the stairs to greet the president or join the president,” Kilmeade could be heard saying.
“Might be Lara Trump,” Earhardt added quietly. “Lara’s been on…” then the studio audio faded out.
“That would be interesting if it was,” Jones was then heard saying.
“I was told she wasn’t on the trip,” Earhardt replied. “So let’s see if we zoom in.”
Studio audio then cut out for more than a minute, focused solely on sounds from the scene, which then picked up the camera team scrambling to get the shot.
“So you see a little bit of camera work there,” Kilmeade hurriedly interjected. “But as they chant, I assume it’s a compliment. If anyone knows Chinese and could tell us what they’re chanting, but it seems to be positive. The president seems to like it. Gave a fist pump there as he walked off.”
Lara, 43, is married to Trump’s second son, Eric, 42. Melania, 56, meanwhile, is not attending the state trip to China, which is due to last until Friday.
The passenger manifest included Eric, Lara, Tesla and SpaceX boss Elon Musk, disgraced Melania documentary director Brett Ratner, BlackRock’s Larry Fink, Apple chief Tim Cook, Blackstone’s Stephen Schwarzman, and leaders from Goldman Sachs, Boeing, Visa, and Mastercard.
That lineup has drawn criticism for its apparent lack of experts on China.
“Not a single China expert,” said President Barack Obama’s former White House director of global engagement Brett Bruen on X on Tuesday. “POTUS would normally have at least one NSC/State official to provide briefings. Underlines how utterly unprepared he is for meetings with Xi.”
The messaging was met with a typically foul-mouthed response from Trump’s top communication goon, Steven Cheung.
“You have no idea what you’re talking about you slope-brained, mouth breathing moron,” he said. “Stop calling yourself an expert in anything, aside from sucking. Anyone that hires you (not many!) should get an immediate refund and payment for wasting their time.”
Trump was met from the plane by Chinese Vice President Han Zheng and is due to meet President Xi Jinping on Thursday.
