WATCH: Trump compares imprisonment of Jimmy Lai to James Comey, but says he'll bring it up to Xi – PBS
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President Donald Trump likened Jimmy Lai to former FBI director James Comey on Monday as he plans to discuss the case with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Watch the clip in the video player above.
The U.S. president said he’ll bring up the Lai’s plight in China this week, but he compared the pro-democracy activist to one of his most detested foes.
WATCH: ‘He has suffered enough,’ Jimmy Lai’s daughter says after his conviction in Hong Kong
“Jimmy Lai, you know, he caused a lot of bedlam,” Trump told reporters Monday. “It’s like saying to me, ‘if Comey ever went to jail, would you let him out?’ That might be a hard one for me.”
Trump fired Comey in 2017 over his handling of the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections. The Justice Department is now prosecuting Comey on charges of making threats against the president. Its first indictment of Comey was dismissed.
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“Jimmy Lai, he caused lots of turmoil in China. He tried to do the right thing. He wasn’t successful, went to jail, and people would like him out,” Trump said. “And I’d like to see him get out too.”
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