Obama snubs NYC's Waldorf Astoria hotel over China bugging fears, scream tabloids

President Obama. WABC, July 17, 2015.


President Obama. WABC, July 17, 2015.

Most fears about bugs in New York City hotels involve the kind that live in beds. Today, another type of hotel bug is in the news.

President Barack Obama is breaking a tradition of past U.S. Presidents by not staying in the Waldorf Astoria hotel during his New York City visit today. And the switch is reportedly because of fears that the joint might be bugged by China. The Waldorf Astoria is now owned by Chinese investors. Millennium's ONE UN will reportedly become his Obama's new NYC base.

The Department of State has traditionally housed US officials at the high-end hotel ever since Herbert Hoover first stayed there, but policy changed when Hilton Worldwide announced a sale of the property to Anbang Insurance Group for $1.95billion last year.

[Page Six, and the Daily Mail, and WABC, AOL]