US President Donald Trump has stated that he made no mistake for a video briefly shared on his official Truth Social account that depicted former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes.
Speaking late Friday to the press accompanying him aboard Air Force One, Trump insisted he made no mistake by sharing the video and does not need to apologize.
“I didn’t make a mistake,” he said.
Trump stated that he did not watch the entire clip before it was posted.
“I didn’t see the whole thing. I looked at the first part, and it was really about voter fraud in the machines, how crooked it is, and how disgusting it is.
“Then I gave it to the people. Generally, they look at the whole thing. But I guess somebody didn’t,” he said.
Speaking on whether he condemned the video’s content, Trump replied, “Of course I do.”
The video, which was posted late Thursday, promoted a conspiracy theory regarding voting machines used in the 2020 election and featured a racist image of the Obamas.
It stayed on Trump’s Truth Social account for approximately 12 hours until being deleted on Friday morning, despite broad bipartisan calls for its removal.
In an emailed message to reporters on Friday morning, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the tweet.
She said, “This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from The Lion King.”
Leavitt added, “Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.”
Hours after the statement was issued, the video was deleted from Trump’s official Truth Social account.
