China sanctions top Trump officials minutes after Biden is inaugurated

Mike Pompeo.
(Image credit: ANDREW HARNIK/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

President Biden has officially begun his White House tenure, but the Trump administration is still very much in the news.

Shortly after Biden was sworn in Wednesday, China's ministry of foreign affairs announced that dozens of former Trump administration officials and allies have been sanctioned and barred, along with their immediate family members, from entering mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macao. The list includes former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien, former Deputy National Security Adviser Matthew Pottinger, former trade adviser Peter Navarro, and former Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. O'Brien's predecessor, John Bolton, and former White House Chief Strategist Stephen Bannon will also face sanctions, among others.

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.