US President Donald Trump has stated he didn't see the part of a social media video which showed a racist clip depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as apes.
The clip - set to the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight - was at the end of a 62-second video he shared containing claims about voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. The video was later removed.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Trump said I didn't make a mistake when asked whether he was going to apologise.
He added he had only seen the beginning of the video before it was posted by a staff member and didn't know it contained that depiction of the Obamas.
Republican Senator Tim Scott - who is black - described it as the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House.
The White House initially defended the clip as an internet meme video and told critics to stop the fake outrage. However, after fierce backlash, including from several Republican senators, the post was removed from Trump's Truth Social account and a White House official stated that a staffer had erroneously made the post.
The clip - which recalls racist caricatures comparing black people to monkeys - appears to be taken from an X post shared by conservative meme creator Xerias in October. This video also depicts several other high-profile Democrats as animals, including New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden, is also depicted as an ape eating a banana.
The Obamas have yet to comment on the video.
The video was one of dozens posted to Trump's Truth Social account overnight. I look at a lot of thousands of things, the president said while aboard Air Force One on Friday, adding that after watching only part of the video he gave it to the people who generally, they look at the whole thing.
He says he liked the video's message on voter fraud, but that if his staff had looked at the whole thing, probably they would have had the sense to take it down.
We took it down as soon as we found out about it, he added.
Some criticism came from within Trump's own party. Senator Scott posted that he was praying it was fake because it's the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House, urging immediate removal.
New York representative Mike Lawler called the post wrong and incredibly offensive - whether intentional or a mistake and noted it should be deleted immediately with an apology offered.
The criticism persisted even after the removal of the post. Republican Senator John Curtis termed the video blatantly racist and inexcusable and stated that it should never have been published for so long.
John Curtis added on social media that it should never have been posted or left published for so long.
The BBC has requested clarification from the White House regarding the number of individuals with access to the president's account and the approval process for posts.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt described the clip as from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King and added, Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public..
Before it was removed, Derrick Johnson, the president of the NAACP, condemned the video as disgusting and utterly despicable, accusing Trump of trying to divert the public from pressing issues like the Epstein case and a failing economy.
Former Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes remarked that Trump will be studied as a stain on the country while the Obamas will be celebrated as beloved figures.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker openly labeled Trump as a racist.
California Governor Gavin Newsom's office described Trump's behavior as disgusting and called on Republicans to denounce it immediately.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries criticized Trump as a vile, unhinged and malignant bottom feeder and stated that every Republican must denounce Trump's bigotry.
The clip featuring the Obamas was added to a video that included baseless claims of a voting conspiracy in Michigan during the 2020 presidential election, which were debunked in Dominion Voting System's successful civil cases against media companies.
Trump has a long history of attacking Obama, including previous unfounded allegations regarding Obama's birthplace, which he later acknowledged to be the US.
