US President Donald Trump defended himself on Friday for sharing a video on his Truth Social account that depicted former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes, insisting he had done nothing wrong and does not need to apologise.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump said he had not watched the full clip before posting it. “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,” he said. “Generally, they look at the whole thing. But I guess somebody didn’t.”
When asked whether he condemned the video’s content, Trump replied, “Of course I do.”
The video, which circulated briefly late Thursday, promoted a conspiracy theory about voting machines used in the 2020 election and included a racist depiction of the Obamas. It remained on Trump’s account for roughly 12 hours before being removed on Friday morning amid bipartisan calls for its deletion.
Earlier, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the post in an emailed statement, saying it was part of an “internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from The Lion King,” and urged media to “stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.”
The video was deleted hours later, but the incident drew renewed criticism from political opponents and civil rights groups.
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