Viral video of US President Donald Trump secretly peeking inside Chinese President Xi Jinping’s notebook during state dinner

RATING JUSTIFICATION:

The iVerify Pakistan team investigated this content and determined that it is misleading.

To reach this conclusion, iVerify Pakistan conducted a keyword search and a reverse image search to trace the original source of the video.

Multiple users across several social media platforms were sharing a video since May 14, 2026, claiming it shows United States President Donald Trump peeking into Chinese President Xi Jinping’s notebook during a state dinner held during the former’s visit to China. However, the notebook actually belonged to Trump himself.

Trump’s arrival in Beijing marked the first visit to China by a sitting US president in almost a decade. That alone made the summit significant. But the timing gave it even greater weight.

Originally planned for April but delayed because of the US-Israeli conflict with Iran, the talks unfolded under the shadow of conflict, economic strain and renewed tariff tensions, alongside growing debate over whether American global dominance is beginning to fade as China’s influence expands.

HOW IT STARTED

On May 14, an X account, which claims to cover conflict based on its bio, shared a video from the state dinner hosted by Xi for Trump the same day. The footage showed Trump quickly peeking through the pages of a black folder before closing it.

The caption of the video translates: “Trump sneakily flips through Xi Jinping’s little notebook. This scene took place on May 14, 2026, at the state banquet during Trump’s visit to China. While Xi Jinping stood up and left the table, Trump reached out, opened the notebook placed in front of him to take a look, and quickly closed it again. Marco Rubio, sitting nearby, saw it all but didn’t make a sound. It brings to mind that moment at the closing ceremony of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on October 22, 2022, when Hu Jintao reached for the materials in front of Xi Jinping to look at them, only to be escorted out.”

The post gathered up to 1.3 million views.

A user on TikTok shared the same video with the caption: “Trump leafing through the book in front of Xi Jinping’s chair, like the whole world wasn’t watching.”

The post gathered up to 1.2m views.

On Instagram, a user shared the same video with the same caption, gathering more than 490,000 views.

On May 15, a popular Vietnamese digital entertainment news site shared the same video on Facebook. The caption translates: “While Xi Jinping was absent, Trump flipped through the notebook placed in Xi Jinping’s seat, then pushed it back to its original position.”

The post gathered 2.4m views.

A pro-Russian account, based on its past posts, shared the same video with the caption: “Trump caught sneaking a peek at Xi Jinping’s private notebook during a Beijing banquet while Xi stepped away!”

The post accumulated more than 1.7m views.

Indian publication Zee News also published a Hindi news story on the video in the same context, citing a post by a pro-Russian account.

The same video in a similar context was shared by several other users on YouTube and X, as can be seen here, here, here, here, and here; collectively accumulating more than 810,000 views.

METHODOLOGY

A fact-check was initiated to determine the veracity of the claim due to high virality and keen public interest in President Trump’s recent visit to China.

A keyword search was conducted to corroborate whether any such incident was covered by mainstream and credible international, American or Chinese media outlets, but yielded no results.

Another keyword search was conducted to trace the full video of the state dinner. It led to footage published by Forbes on its YouTube channel. The viral clip appears at the 24:11-minute mark, where President Trump can be seen going through a black folder shortly after President Xi leaves his seat and walks to the podium to deliver his speech.

In the clip, a logo was visible on the said folder. A reverse image search yielded results from official and commercial sources. According to the White House Gift Shop, the logo is the official US presidential seal used on official presidential document folders.

A further reverse image search led to The Hand Prop Room, a US-based prop house for motion pictures. One of its pages features a recreated document titled “Presidential File Folder,” and the folder bears the same logo.

Similarly, a side-by-side comparison of the logos found online and the logo on the folder in the viral clip showed they were identical.

FACT-CHECK STATUS: MISLEADING

The claim that a viral video shows Donald Trump secretly peeking into Xi Jinping’s notebook during the state dinner is misleading.

The folder belonged to President Trump himself, as indicated by the official seal of the US president visible on the folder.

EVIDENCE AND REFERENCES

May 14, 2026, Forbes Breaking News YouTube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=283Rp6cAWWk&t=1443s

White House Gift Shop:
https://www.whitehousegiftshop.com/product-p/whfoliopotuspen.htm

The Hand Prop Room post:
https://www.hpr.com/product/ms-docs-folder-presidential-bush-2/