More than 100 U.S. lawmakers sent President Donald Trump a letter asking him to address Jimmy Lai\u2019s case when he meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on May 14\u201315.<\/p>\n
Lai, founder and publisher of the pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily, was sentenced<\/a> to 20 years in prison on Feb. 9 over what Chinese officials claim were national security violations. The sentencing followed Lai\u2019s conviction<\/a>, which ended what Lai\u2019s defenders described as a politically motivated show trial.<\/p>\n In October 2025, Trump spoke with Xi Jinping about Lai<\/a>. In the letter<\/a> sent to the White House on May 8, lawmakers urged Trump to advocate for Lai again by asking for his humanitarian release.<\/p>\n Catholic Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey, co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, and Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida, both longtime advocates of Lai\u02bcs, circulated the bipartisan letter that was signed by 105 other members of Congress.<\/p>\n \u201cWe know the president wants to do this,\u201d Smith said in a May 8 interview with \u201cEWTN News Nightly.” \u201cWe want him to know \u2014 President Trump \u2014 that we\u02bcre solidly behind him about what he might be able to accomplish.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd he could use that, frankly, more effectively, with Xi Jinping, and say, \u2018Look, don\u02bct just do it for the executive branch. The legislative branch is asking you, as well, from a humanitarian point of view,\u2019\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n The president has \u201can ability to persuade\u201d like \u201cno other president I\u02bcve ever known,\u201d Smith said. \u201cAnd I hope he can persuade Xi Jinping to let this great man go.\u201d<\/p>\n The letter notes that Trump\u2019s \u201cdirect engagement is critical to securing Mr. Lai\u02bcs immediate release on humanitarian parole\u201d and the case for his freedom \u201cis urgent and undeniable.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHe is a devout Catholic and successful entrepreneur who has already spent five years in detention, much of it in solitary confinement,\u201d lawmakers wrote.<\/p>\n \u201cHis family, his friends, and supporters have indicated that if he is released, he will leave Hong Kong and withdraw from public life,\u201d they wrote. \u201cIt is a clear, practical path forward that reunites a family and prevents this case from becoming an irreversible tragedy \u2014 and an enduring symbol of repression that will echo far beyond Hong Kong.\u201d<\/p>\n Lai\u2019s \u2018deteriorating health\u2019<\/p>\n The group is calling for a humanitarian release due to Lai\u2019s \u201cdeteriorating health condition.\u201d They wrote: \u201cHis health has declined in custody, and prolonged isolation and inadequate prison conditions only increase the risk of permanent harm.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFrom a humanitarian point of view, we\u02bcre hoping the president will look Xi Jinping in the eyes and say, \u2018Let this guy go. Do it now. It\u02bcs a good gesture. It means a lot to us as Americans,\u2019\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n \u201cJimmy Lai spoke truth to power. He did it with grace, eloquence,\u201d Smith said. \u201cHis newspaper \u2026 was just a beacon of hope and [truth], and for that, he\u02bcs got a life sentence \u2014 20 years. He\u02bcs 78. It\u02bcs probably a life sentence, and he\u02bcs very sick.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u02bcm very concerned,\u201d Smith said. \u201cWe\u02bcve known for decades that when somebody is a political prisoner, and that\u02bcs what Jimmy Lai is, or religious prisoner, and you get sick, they let you die. They do not attend to your needs.\u201d<\/p>\n Lai \u201chas a number of very serious ailments,\u201d Smith said. \u201cType 2 diabetes is just one of them. He\u02bcs got a lot of other problems, and they all are compounding, cascading. He needs good medical attention, and he needs it now.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOtherwise it\u02bcll be a blight on the Chinese Communist Party added to the other blights that they\u02bcve accumulated over the years. But break that mold of letting people just die in prison through neglect,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one can do it better than Trump, and I think he will,\u201d Smith said. \u201cAnd if it does fail, it won\u02bct be on Trump\u02bcs back. It\u02bcll be, sadly, that Xi Jinping again has decided to stay with being cruel.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 100 U.S. lawmakers sent President Donald Trump a letter asking him to address Jimmy Lai\u2019s case…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64004,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5765,37682,35591,10,65,11,64,37681],"class_list":{"0":"post-64003","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-donald-trump","8":"tag-catholic-news","9":"tag-ewtn-news-nightly","10":"tag-jimmy-lai","11":"tag-potus","12":"tag-president-donald-trump","13":"tag-president-of-the-united-states","14":"tag-president-trump","15":"tag-rep-chris-smith"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116545675835961515","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}