US President Donald Trump on Friday removed a social media post containing racist imagery depicting former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as cartoon apes, but said he would not apologize for sharing the video.
The roughly one-minute clip, which Trump shared late Thursday, largely promoted false claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election before ending with the edited imagery set to the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.” The post sparked immediate backlash from lawmakers across party lines.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said he had only watched the opening portion of the video, which he described as focusing on election issues, before it was posted.
“I looked at the beginning of it. It was fine,” Trump said, adding that staff were responsible for reviewing the full content. “We took it down as soon as we found out about it.”
A White House official told NBC News that the post was shared in error by a staff member and was removed shortly before noon on Friday.
While Trump said he condemned the racist imagery, he insisted he did not make a mistake by sharing the post. “Of course” he condemns the racist content, he said, but added, “No, I didn’t make a mistake.”
The post drew sharp criticism from both Republicans and Democrats. Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, the Senate’s only Black Republican, described it as “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House” and called for its removal. Trump later said he spoke with Scott, describing him as “great” and saying the senator understood the situation.
Other Republicans also condemned the video. Senator Pete Ricketts of Nebraska said the content was clearly offensive and called on the White House to remove it and issue an apology. Representative Mike Lawler of New York described the post as “wrong and incredibly offensive,” regardless of intent.
The incident follows previous occasions in which Trump shared manipulated or AI-generated media targeting political opponents and comes amid renewed attention to his continued claims of fraud in the 2020 election. Representatives for the Obamas did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
