Whitehouse Counterterrorism Czar Says Not Worried About Turmp's Wellbeing at China Summit, as 'Protocols' in Place

White House counterterrorism czar Sebastian Gorka said that President Donald Trump has contingencies in place in the event of his death.

John Rigolizzo

Published: 5/14/2026, 3:15:07 AM EDT

Whitehouse Counterterrorism Czar Says Not Worried About Turmp's Wellbeing at China Summit, as 'Protocols' in Place — Sebastian Gorka of the Salem Radio Network speaks at the “Talk Media Forum on U.S.-China Relations" at the National Press Club in Washington on Dec. 10, 2019. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

White House counterterrorism czar Sebastian Gorka said that President Donald Trump has contingencies in place in the event of his death.

Trump met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday for a wide-ranging bilateral meeting. Appearing on the New York Post's "Pod Force One" on Wednesday, host Miranda Devine expressed concern to Gorka about the possibility of making Trump sick as a means of neutralizing him.

However, Gorka said he was not worried about the possibility because of those protocols.

"Do you have concerns, as I do and others actually in the administration have expressed privately to me, about President Trump going to China to visit President Xi?" Devine asked. "[Trump] is the existential threat to China. He alone stands between them and world domination. So they have every reason in the world to take him out. Now, they may not do it there, obviously, but as someone said to me, they could just put something in the air that makes him sick."

"Absolutely not," Gorka responded. "I have no fear at all of them doing something."

"Why?" Devine asked.

"Number one, everybody wants recognition from this man," said Gorka.

"This is the most powerful individual we have seen since the likes of Eisenhower. This is a man—everybody wants to be at the table with him, to have the state dinner, to have the recognition. The idea that you do something that undermines your recognition goes against what they wish to have.

"Secondarily, remember what the president said about another country trying to do that. He said there is a letter in the drawer in the resolute desk that is addressed to the vice president should something happen to him. That is the language of power that nations like China, Iran, and Russia understand. So no, for both of those reasons, the president, in my estimation, is very safe."

Instructions Left for Vice President

Devine was soothed by the notion that Vice President JD Vance has instructions in case the president is incapacitated but still floated the idea that China could "do something sneaky" like the COVID-19 pandemic, and cover up an attack underneath something like Lyme disease.

Gorka was unfazed.

"We have protocols, trust me," he said. "Not ones I can discuss, but we have protocols."

Earlier this year, Trump told NewsNation's Katie Pavlich that he left instructions in the event that something happens to him, in the context of threats made by the Iranian regime.

"I've left notification," Trump said in January. "Anything ever happens, the whole country is going to get blown up ... if I were here and they were making that threat to somebody—not even a president, but somebody—like they did with me, I would absolutely hit them so hard. But I have very firm instructions. Anything happens, they're going to wipe them off the face of this earth."

Trump met with Xi in Beijing on Thursday. The meeting was expected to cover a range of topics, from Taiwan, to a potential 3-way nuclear arms agreement with between Russia, China, and the United States. Trump brought along a coterie of American industry titans, including Nvidia's Jensen Huang and Elon Musk.