Trump responds to 'disgustingly racist' Obama video amid backlash from lawmakers | indy100

Donald Trump rambles about his honesty and innocence but the internet's not …

Reuters

Donald Trump has broken his silence over a racist video shared to Truth Social, depicting Michelle and Barack Obama as apes.

The video showed the Obamas' faces edited onto apes in a jungle with 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' as the backing track. The post was deleted 12 hours later after the White House said a member of staff "erroneously made the post".

Later, the US president said he "of course" condemned the racist parts of the video, but said he wouldn't apologise as he "didn't make a mistake".

"I looked at the beginning of it. It was fine," he shared while on board Air Force One, later adding: "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."

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed the post as harmless, telling The Independent: "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," she continued.

The post was met with disgust by various high-profile figures and lawmakers.

Bernie Sanders called the clip "disgustingly racist," adding: "Are my Republican colleagues going to continue to bend the knee to a racist, authoritarian president who wants the American people to bow down before him?"

Kamala Harris 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."

Before the clip was removed, Senator Tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican, wrote: "Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House. The President should remove it."

Rep Mike Lawler, a New York Republican, shared: "The President’s post is wrong and incredibly offensive — whether intentional or a mistake — and should be deleted immediately with an apology offered."

Senator Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, slammed the post as "totally unacceptable".

Senator Pete Ricketts, a Nebraska Republican, wrote: "Even if this was a Lion King meme, a reasonable person sees the racist context to this."

Rep Mike Turner, an Ohio Republican, shared: "I do not feel the need to respond to every inflammatory statement made by the White House. However, the release of racist images of former President Barack and First Lady Michelle Obama is offensive, heart breaking, and unacceptable. President Trump should apologize."

Meanwhile, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Trump "should be ashamed of himself, if he were capable of shame.

"Taking it down is not enough. The White House must apologize for this beyond disgusting behavior."

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