'Troublemaker' Lai expected Apple Daily to be shut down

A court heard a recording on the 86th day of Next Digital founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying's national security trial in which he admits considering himself to be a "troublemaker" and expects his tabloid Apple Daily to shut down.

In a CNN interview on May 26, 2020, Lai denied Beijing's claims that he had betrayed Hong Kong.

He said Hong Kong was facing dictatorship under Beijing and that Hongkongers had chosen to fight for freedom.

Lai acknowledged that he was mentally prepared for Apple Daily to be shut down and for himself to be arrested and jailed. As a British citizen, Lai said he would not leave Hong Kong, and admitted he had always been a "troublemaker."

The court previously heard that in May 2020, Lai ran a petition campaign urging people to write to then-US president Donald Trump, asking him to oppose the imposition of the national security law in Hong Kong.

Lai said he believed Trump was the only person who could save Hong Kong and impose sanctions on China.

In a later Bloomberg interview on May 28, 2020, Lai expressed confidence that Trump would take up "draconian" measures against China.

In an interview on the US show Uncommon Knowledge on June 9, 2020, Lai said the national security law was an example of disrespect for the rule of law, as it was imposed without going through the Basic Law and the Legislative Council.

He warned that the media industry could no longer survive, as outlets might be charged with "sedition," and that the law was a "death knell" for Hong Kong.

Speaking in an interview by the US-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies on July 10, 2019, Lai said he had met then-US secretary of state Mike Pompeo and then-vice president Mike Pence the previous day to call on Washington to pressure China.

During the interview, Lai described the proposed extradition law amendment as "an evil conspiracy" that would destroy the rule of law, humanity and freedom in Hong Kong.

He also defended the protesters, saying they were not "rioters" but a highly disciplined group.

The prosecution also played three Fox News interview clips of Lai between July 2019 and May 2020. In the earlier interviews, Lai called on the US to maintain its "moral authority" to oppose dictatorship.

In the May 2020 interview, Lai said he would continue to join the protests, despite being arrested several times.

"I am 72 [years old], I don't care what happened to me."