President Trump said of the video, “I watch a lot, a thousand things.” “And I looked at the first one and it was fine.”
Donald Trump shares TruthSocial video that makes President Obama look like a monkey
President Donald Trump shared a video on Truth Social depicting former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as monkeys.
President Donald Trump has refused to apologize for sharing a video depicting former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as monkeys, telling reporters: “I made no mistakes.”
On February 6, while en route to Florida on Air Force One, President Trump told reporters that he had only watched the beginning of the nearly one-minute video, which begins with unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election, and not the part about the Obamas that has been widely condemned as racist.
Trump said he “just saw the first part…I didn’t see the whole thing,” suggesting he had left the post to someone else and that “someone slipped up and missed a very small part.”
President Trump said, “Maybe no one considered the outcome.”
Asked about calls from Republican lawmakers demanding an apology, Trump said he had no intention of doing so. Later, when asked if he condemned the racist parts of the video, he replied, “Of course I do.”
A short segment of the Obamas’ video appears to have been created by artificial intelligence. It depicts the remains of two monkeys with the faces of a former president and first lady. Monkeys are flying around in what looks like a jungle.
The video was one of dozens posted to President Trump’s Truth Social account between the late hours of February 5th and early morning hours of February 6th. White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt initially defended President Obama’s post, saying it was “derived from an Internet meme video that portrays President Trump as the king of the jungle and Democrats as characters from The Lion King.”
“Please stop this false outrage,” Levitt added.
The White House subsequently distanced the president from the video amid mounting criticism from many Republican leaders. White House officials said the video was shared in error by an anonymous member of President Trump’s staff. After being up for about 12 hours, it was removed from President Trump’s Truth Social account.
The video drew strong reactions from Republican lawmakers who have been reluctant to criticize party leaders.
Sen. Tim Scott, an ally of President Trump and a prominent black Republican from South Carolina who is leading his Senate campaign this year, wrote: “I hope this is fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen in this White House.”
Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) called the post “blatantly racist and intolerable.” Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-Nebraska) said a “reasonable person” would consider the video “racist” and called for an apology from President Trump. Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi) called the video “totally unacceptable” and said an apology was needed.
President Trump said he was “the least racist president we’ve had in a while” and cited policies such as criminal justice reform that he said “I’ve been great” for black voters.
The president was accused of racism by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries earlier this year after he shared a controversial deepfake video of the congressman wearing a sombrero hat while playing mariachi music.
Jeffries once again accused Trump of being a racist after posting a video depicting the Obamas as monkeys.
“This guy is a worthless bastard,” Jeffries said in a video posted on social media.
Contributors: Joey Garrison, Melina Khan
