President Donald Trump’s trip to China has been sullied by a reporter from his favorite network sharing details of “heated” physical disputes.
Fox News’ Senior White Correspondent Peter Doocy is part of the media contingent who have joined Trump on the ground in Beijing.
During two separate appearances on Fox on Thursday, Doocy reported that tensions between American and Chinese security entourages escalated into physical altercations.
One key incident on the first full day of Trump’s state visit to China led to a half-hour standoff between rival security officials.
Discussing the showdown on Thursday on Fox’s The Story, Doocy told host Martha McCallum there were “heated and physical clashes” between the U.S. Secret Service and the Chinese police.
Doocy described the “very physical standoff” where the Secret Service officer “was being prevented from taking his weapon in as part of the protective detail.”
He added, “things have been ironed out and as far as we know, the schedule has not been changed because of that.”
According to the White House Press Pool on X, a Secret Service agent accompanying the pool reporters was refused entrance to the Temple of Heaven compound because he was armed.
“The pool’s entry to the temple complex was delayed by nearly half an hour by a lengthy and increasingly intense discussion between US and Chinese officials, after Chinese security refused to allow a Secret Service agent accompanying the pool to enter the temple compound with his weapon,” AFP correspondent Danny Kemp reported.
“A compromise was eventually found,” he added, without explanation.
One Secret Service agent who had been cleared was summoned to escort reporters into the temple, while the first agent stayed behind, according to the New York Post.
There was also a delay in reporters being allowed to leave the temple.
Footage filmed inside the temple and streamed on BBC News China, shows American journalists complaining to Chinese security. One unidentified woman can be heard stating “We are missing history happening out there because you have us locked in this room.”
Video shared by Getty shows reporters telling Chinese security “We have to go!,” as they eventually leave the building.
White House Pool reporter Danny Kemp posted, at 1:25 p.m. local time on Thursday that U.S. and Chinese officials “are keeping us in a side room” while having “a spirited debate about whether we can move.”
A follow-up post at 1:41 p.m said the pool had “another brief delay” while U.S staff and reporters “had an even more spirited discussion with Chinese officials, who several times tried to stop them from leaving and joining the (presidential) motorcade.”
The drama in Beijing also included White House staff, with a staffer trampled by Chinese reporters on Thursday, according to the Post.
A group of Chinese journalists reportedly rushed into Trump’s morning bilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, knocking over and stepping on an unidentified White House aide, according to the Post.
The aide was not injured, although the Post reported the incident caused her colleagues to “loudly protest” the Chinese media’s behavior.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and the Secret Service for comment.
American journalists have had water bottles confiscated by security-conscious Chinese officials, and have limited access to bathrooms according to the Post.
Doocy also shared details of an awkward trip after Trump’s welcome to China.
“Leaving that welcome ceremony, I was ordered on to a bus that then immediately left with nobody on it except for me and a driver that didn’t know I wanted to get off,” Doocy told Fox’s Bret Baier.
“But after lots of shouting and pointing on the bus, and off the bus, we got where we needed to be.”
