“Fox & Friends” faced an uncomfortable moment on May 13, 2026, when host Brian Kilmeade confused Lara Trump with First Lady Melania Trump while reporting live on President Trump’s arrival in Beijing, China.
The confusion, which unfolded live as Air Force One landed at Beijing Capital International Airport, soon became one of the most discussed moments of the China visit.
Fox News preempted regular broadcasts to cover the president’s landing, with hosts Kilmeade, Ainsley Earhardt, and Lawrence Jones seated alongside Michael Allen, a former aide to George W. Bush. As the 79-year-old president made his way down the stairs at a measured pace — met by military personnel and a red carpet featuring people holding Chinese and American flags — the broadcast switched to the live scene.
A Broadcast Blunder Unfolding Live
“Michael, my apologies for the interruption. We want to catch this welcome for a moment, then we’ll come back to you,” Jones said to Allen, with band music audible in the distance alongside the sound of Air Force One’s engines.
Kilmeade then remarked on “the first lady” making her way down the stairs to welcome the president. Earhardt caught on quickly that something seemed amiss, softly saying it “might be Lara Trump.” Seconds after, she stated, “I think that’s Lara Trump.” Kilmeade, speaking in hushed tones, suggested it was “probably interesting for her” and that “the first lady should have been there.” Jones was then heard saying, “That would be interesting if it was,” before Earhardt added, “I was told she wasn’t on the trip. So let’s see if we zoom in” — at which point her microphone was cut.
An extended silence followed. The audio from the studio went silent for roughly a minute, with only the tarmac sounds remaining as camera operators worked to get a better view. Upon returning, Kilmeade quickly shifted focus, describing crowd reactions and mentioning that the president “made a fist pump gesture as he departed.”
Who Truly Exited the Aircraft
Those departing Air Force One following the president were not Melania, 56, but Eric, 42, Trump’s second son, and his wife Lara, 43 — herself a Fox News employee. This family link made the broadcast error all the more awkward. The first lady’s office released a statement confirming that “First Lady Melania Trump is not traveling this time.”
Psychologist Dr. Tracy King theorized that the first lady’s limited travel could represent a calculated decision — one that “restricts her visibility to public observation, lessens her involvement in the ongoing political narrative, and ensures her appearances hold greater significance.”
The flight list resembled an elite international conference roster. Eric and Lara were joined by Elon Musk, head of Tesla and SpaceX, Larry Fink of BlackRock, Apple’s Tim Cook, Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone, and filmmaker Brett Ratner. Executives from Goldman Sachs, Boeing, Visa, and Mastercard were also included.
The traveling party turned out to be bigger than initially disclosed. Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s chief — whose technology plays a key role in the Washington-Beijing AI race — was aboard Air Force One with Trump and Musk. Boeing’s delegation was headed by CEO Kelly Ortberg, with plane purchase talks advancing despite China’s punitive tariffs on U.S. commodities. The group also included Citigroup’s Jane Fraser and Meta’s Dina Powell McCormick, who serves as President and Vice Chair.
Missing: China Specialists
Notably absent from the roster: specialists with extensive China knowledge. Brett Bruen, former director of global engagement at the Obama White House, voiced criticism on X, contending that the group lacked the expert counsel typically accompanying a president.
“Not a single China expert,” Bruen stated on May 12. “POTUS would normally have at least one NSC/State official to provide briefings. Underlines how utterly unprepared he is for meetings with Xi.”
Trump’s communications director Steven Cheung, reacted negatively to the remarks, delivering a sharp rebuttal in which he insulted Bruen, calling him a “slope-brained, mouth breathing moron” and implying that anyone who employed him should regret it.
The president left Washington, D.C. on May 12, with the trip concluding on Friday. Upon landing, Chinese officials greeted him on the tarmac, though President Xi Jinping was noticeably absent.
Trump exited Beijing on May 15, following the two-day gathering that featured ceremonial elements but yielded few tangible results. The May 14 one-on-one meeting between the two leaders ran approximately two hours and 15 minutes, with a subsequent session on May 15 at Zhongnanhai — the residence and workplace of China’s senior leadership — involving garden walks and a meal featuring kung pao chicken, Beijing roast duck, scallops, and dumplings. Trump characterized the trip as “incredible” and highlighted “fantastic trade deals,” while Xi labeled the discussions “historic” and a “landmark.”
Regarding Iran, Trump stated that Xi indicated China would refrain from sending military items to Tehran — described by Trump as “a big statement.” Yet no major advances occurred on the Taiwan question, where Xi cautioned about possible “clashes and even conflicts” without proper handling, or concerning the freedom of media mogul Jimmy Lai, who is imprisoned.
Bloomberg noted that Trump ended “the summit essentially where it started, getting limited support from his self-identified ‘friend’ Xi Jinping.” The Atlantic Council was more pointed, “It was a big show — with little to show for it.”
Notably, this was not the first time Fox News confused Melania with another woman in the president’s orbit. In June 2023, anchor John Roberts mistakenly identified Trump’s special assistant Margo Martin, 30, as the first lady during live coverage of Trump’s arraignment at a Miami federal courthouse. That earlier blunder resurfaced virally during the China trip after Martin — whom Trump has called “the most beautiful photographer in the world” — accompanied the president to Beijing and posted behind-the-scenes footage on social media.