President Trump needled Joe Biden over the autopen while walking Chinese leader Xi Jinping past White House presidential portraits, drawing Xi's laugh and Democratic outrage over the jab.

Trump stopped with Xi at the Presidential Walk of Fame in the White House Colonnade on Thursday and gestured at the display of former presidents. He pointed to the portraits for his own two terms and said, "Trump, and then Trump." Then he motioned to the space for Biden and added, "And, this is the autopen."

He followed with "It's Biden," and tapped Xi on the arm. Xi laughed. The moment came during Xi's visit to Washington as the two leaders worked through differences on trade, technology, and Taiwan.

The White House later posted video of the exchange on social media with a laughing emoji. Times of India detailed the colonnade walk and the reactions that followed.

Trump has repeatedly criticized Biden's use of the autopen to sign official documents. Biden has rejected those claims. In the display, an image of an autopen signing stood in place of a standard portrait.

Critics call the joke un-American while others call it the highlight

Former Democratic Rep. John Delaney condemned the exchange on X.

Delaney wrote:

"Let's be very clear on this one point. The President mocking a former President in front of the communist leader of China is the most un-American thing an American president has ever done."

Alyssa Farah Griffin, the political commentator and The View co-host, called it "gross and unAmerican." She said an American president mocking another American president to the communist leader of China crossed a line.

Sarah Matthews, who served as a White House aide in Trump's first term, also objected. She argued the moment undercut the country rather than Biden alone.

Matthews said:

"Nothing says 'America First' like mocking a former American president in front of a communist dictator. Trump may think he's humiliating Biden, but all he's doing is humiliating the United States."

Gerard Butler, editor-at-large at The Wall Street Journal, labeled the episode "utterly disgusting." Not every voice piled on. Political commentator Nick Sortor called the shared laugh the high point of the day.

Sortor posted:

"President Trump and Xi Jinping laughing together over the Biden autopen portrait has to be the HIGHLIGHT of the day so far."

New York Post columnist Miranda Devine answered the White House post with a laughing emoji of her own. The split tracked familiar lines: one side saw a breach of decorum in front of a rival power, the other saw a blunt reminder of how Biden handled the job.

Andrews welcome and Archives stop framed the visit

Trump personally welcomed Xi on arrival at Joint Base Andrews. That courtesy had not been extended to a foreign leader at the base since 1962. The gesture set a formal tone before the private meetings and the lighter colonnade moment.

On Friday morning the visit wrapped up. The two presidential couples had tea at the White House, then stopped at the National Archives, home to the Declaration of Independence. The schedule mixed ceremony, talks, and the portrait-wall exchange that dominated social media afterward.

Biden's record continues to draw scrutiny on multiple fronts, including Hunter Biden's laptop admissions that kept family controversies in public view.

The autopen jab fit Trump's longer critique of how official papers got signed in the prior administration. He treated the missing portrait as fair game in front of a foreign leader who understands power and continuity.

Court fights and financial claims have also kept the Biden name in the headlines, from Hunter Biden's claims he owns nothing in one recent case to other legal battles.

Portrait wall moment lands amid familiar Biden pushback

Democrats and never-Trump voices framed the joke as a gift to Beijing. They argued no president should undercut a predecessor before a communist head of state. Trump's side treated it as simple accountability: if an autopen did the work, the display should reflect it.

Separate legal matters have added to the pressure around Biden-era materials, including a federal appeals court ruling on ghostwriter interview recordings that rejected efforts to keep them sealed.

The White House did not hide the video. It posted the clip with a laughing emoji and let the public see Xi's reaction. That choice signaled confidence rather than embarrassment.

Defamation and image disputes have likewise followed the family, as when a federal judge awarded Hunter Biden millions in a defamation case tied to public fights over his conduct.

Trump used the walk to mark his own non-consecutive terms side by side and to leave Biden's slot filled by the machine critics once dismissed as a non-issue. Xi's laugh closed the beat. The critics' statements filled the aftermath.

Protocol, portraits, and a pointed one-liner now sit alongside the substantive talks on trade and security. Voters can decide which part of the visit mattered more.

A president who signs his own name leaves a clearer portrait than one who leans on the autopen, and the contrast needs no translation for visiting leaders.