“I didn’t make a mistake.”
Donald Trump has refused to apologise over a video in which former president Barack Obama and his wife, former first lady Michelle, are depicted as monkeys.
The AI-generated video was shared to the US President’s Truth Social account, before being taken down by the White House 12 hours later.
In a statement, the White House claimed a member of staff “erroneously made the post”.
In the racist video about the Obamas, 59 seconds into the AI-generated clip, the faces of the Obamas are superimposed onto monkey’s bodies, while the song The Lion Sleep Tonight is heard playing in the background.
The clip also asserted the unfounded claims that Joe Biden stole the 2020 election from him.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt initially defended the post, saying: “This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from The Lion King.
“Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.”
However, the clip was later deleted, and Trump said “of course” he condemned the racist parts of the video, but he refused to apologise for it. He also refused to say whether he would fire the staffer who posted the clip.
“No, I didn’t make a mistake,” he said, claiming he did not see the full video.
“I looked at the beginning of it. It was fine.”
He added: “I looked in the first part and it was really about voter fraud in, and the machines, how crooked it is, how disgusting it is.
“Then I gave it to the people. Generally, they’d look at the whole thing. But I guess somebody didn’t, and they posted. We took it down as soon as we found out about it.”
The video has been widely condemned across the political spectrum.
Kamala Harris, who ran against Trump in the 2024 election, said: “No one believes this cover-up from the White House, especially since they originally defended the post.
“We are all clear-eyed about who Donald Trump is and what he believes.”
Democratic governor of California Gavin Newsom slammed the “disgusting behaviour”, adding: “Every single Republican must denounce this. Now.”
Republican Senator Tim Scott, who is black, said it was “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House”.
John Curtis, a Republican Senator from Utah, said the video was “blatantly racist and inexcusable”.
“It should never have been posted or left published for so long,” he added.
Most of Trump’s recent posts are false claims of election fraud, which he has continued repeating in recent days as the midterms approach.
Recently he also called for Republicans to “take over” the voting process and “nationalise” elections.
On a conservative podcast with former deputy FBI director, Dan Bongino, Trump suggested that “the Republicans should say: ‘We want to take over. We should take over the voting in at least 15 places’”.
Last year, Obama labelled Donald Trump a “wannabe dictator” in a scathing speech about the US President.
He warned that Trump’s presidency could be “dangerous” and claimed that he has been acting like a “wannabe dictator running around trying to punish his enemies.”
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