Closing arguments are due to begin in the national security trial of Jimmy Lai, 77, a fierce critic of China’s Communist Party.
United States President Donald Trump has renewed his promise to “save” jailed Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai, who is on trial for alleged national security crimes over his pro-democracy activism and antipathy towards China’s Communist Party.
“I’m going to do everything I can to save him. I’m going to do everything … His name has already entered the circle of things that we’re talking about, and we’ll see what we can do,” Trump told Fox News Radio in the US.
Trump’s remarks came as closing arguments in Lai’s high-profile trial.
Closing arguments have been pushed from Friday to Monday after Lai’s lawyer said he had experienced heart palpitations.
The delay marks the second in as many days, after Hong Kong courts were closed due to bad weather.
Trump previously pledged to rescue Lai during an interview last October, just weeks before his election as president, and had said he would “100 percent get him out”.
Lai is one of the most prominent Hong Kongers to be charged under the city’s draconian 2020 national security law, and his cause has made international headlines.
The 77-year-old is a longtime opponent of China’s Communist Party thanks to his ownership of Apple Daily, a now-shuttered pro-democracy tabloid newspaper.
Thank you, President Trump, for your support for Jimmy Lai at this critical time.
“I’m going to do everything I can to save [Jimmy Lai]. I’m going to do everything…His name has already entered the circle of things that we’re talking about, and we’ll see what we can do. I… pic.twitter.com/EmscQHYQmX
— #FreeJimmyLai (@SupportJimmyLai) August 14, 2025
He is facing two counts of “colluding with foreign forces” and a separate charge of sedition in the long-running national security trial that began in December 2023.
If found guilty, he could spend the rest of his life in prison. He has always protested his innocence.
Lai was first arrested in 2020, just months after Beijing imposed the new national security law on Hong Kong, which criminalised the city’s pro-democracy movement and categorised public protests as acts of secession, subversion and terrorism.
The law was later expanded in 2024 to include further crimes such as espionage and sabotage.
Lai has been in detention continuously since December 2020 and is serving separate prison sentences for participating in a banned candlelight vigil and committing “fraud” on an office lease agreement.
He has spent more than 1,600 days in solitary confinement, according to the United Kingdom-based Hong Kong Watch, despite his age and health complications.
Lai was also denied the lawyer of his choice during trial and access to independent medical care.
A verdict in his trial is expected within days.
