Trump and Xi Send Their Explainers Instead, Summit Proceeds Without Them
Officials confirm the two leaders will skip the meeting entirely, sending a rotating panel of correspondents to explain in real time what would have happened.
In a surprising last-minute swap of the world's most anticipated meeting, officials confirmed that Trump and Xi will not personally sit down together in Washington. Instead, each side will send a panel of correspondents to explain, live, what the two leaders would have discussed had they shown up.
The arrangement, organizers say, streamlines the process considerably. Rather than waiting for a summit to conclude before analysts explain its significance, the explaining now happens first, at the very table where the summit itself was supposed to take place.
"We came together as one panel, divided," said a spokesperson for the arrangement, before excusing themselves to attend a follow-up briefing on the briefing.
By midday, a second panel had been convened to walk viewers through what the first panel meant, and a third panel was reportedly being scheduled to explain the second.
Aides for both leaders say the original meeting has not been canceled, merely postponed indefinitely while the explainers work out what, exactly, there would have been to discuss.