United States President Donald Trump has defended his decision to share a controversial video on his official Truth Social account that portrayed former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes, insisting he did nothing wrong and has no reason to apologise.
Speaking to reporters late Friday aboard Air Force One, Trump said he did not view the entire clip before it was posted but maintained that sharing it was not a mistake.
“I didn’t make a mistake,” he said.
Trump explained that he only watched the beginning of the video, which he claimed focused on allegations of voter fraud involving voting machines.
“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, 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 stated.
When pressed on whether he condemned the offensive content in the video, Trump responded, “Of course I do.”
The video, posted late Thursday, promoted conspiracy claims about the 2020 U.S. election and included a racist depiction of the Obamas.
It remained on Trump’s Truth Social page for about 12 hours before being deleted Friday morning after widespread bipartisan criticism.
Earlier, the White House had defended the post in a statement sent to reporters by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who described it as an internet meme portraying Trump as the
“King of the Jungle” and Democrats as characters from The Lion King.
She also dismissed the backlash, urging the media to focus on issues she said mattered more to Americans.
However, the video was later removed from Trump’s official account hours after the statement was issued.
