Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.

Donald Trump is taking Chinese president Xi Jinping to visit the National Archives later today, showing off the sacred texts of US democracy to the leader of the world’s most powerful communist country.

Xi is expected to depart Washington after touring the nation’s vault of records, where the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are held, AP reported.

The three-day state visit came as the US celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding and Trump said on Thursday that he wanted to show Xi “some of the greatest treasures of that proud history.”

The archives has a special exhibit marking the sesquicentennial, titled ‘The American Story,’ which highlights the country’s accomplishments and advances, along with images depicting its darker moments.

Trump showed Xi one copy of the Declaration of Independence on Thursday - a wall-mounted copy he keeps in the Oval Office. The US president also said he wanted to show Xi artefacts about the relationship between the two countries.

“Just as our ancestors reached across the ocean centuries ago to trade, to learn, and to build a better world, our two countries do really the same thing, and we’re very proud of it,” he said.

Xi’s day will begin at the White House, where Trump and first lady Melania Trump will host the Chinese leader and his wife, Peng Liyuan, for tea.

In other developments:

  • Donald Trump welcomed Xi Jinping to the White House for a state dinner in honor of the Chinese leader that was not televised because the White House continued to deny full access to the event to CNN journalists on Thursday, despite a court order.

  • Writing on his social media platform, Trump complained that two of the three outlets he banned from the White House, CNN and MS Now, “refused to cover” his elaborate welcome of Xi to the White House. He did not mention that the two broadcasters were not in position to cover the event live because his own actions and those of his aides, who continued to block their reporters.

  • As Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu attacked him at the UN, New York’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, doubled down on his support for Palestinians by making public video of himself hosting Palestinian families from Gaza.

  • Darializa Avila Chevalier, the Democratic socialist congressional candidate from New York, was among dozens of activists arrested near the United Nations on Thursday at a protest against Netanyahu’s appearance organized by Jewish Voice for Peace.

  • The Trump administration used taxpayer funds to air a White House-produced, pro-Trump ad on Fox News this week.