After President Donald Trump posted a racist video earlier this month that contained images of Barack and Michelle Obama as apes, the White House claimed it was “erroneously” posted by an unnamed staffer.
The explanation appeared to be an attempt to direct blame from the president, whose post was slammed as racist, including by his own ally, the Republican U.S. Senator Tim Scott. The White House also tried to justify the video by implying the ape images were from “The Lion King,” despite the Disney film having no such apes.
Though the White House suggested for the first time that Trump’s Truth Social posts aren’t entirely under his control but rather those of a staffer, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt appeared to contradict that claim.
During Wednesday’s press briefing, Leavitt was asked about a Truth Social post from Trump about the UK’s plan to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
“The post should be taken as the policy of the Trump administration. It’s coming straight from the horse’s mouth,” said the Trump spokesperson. “When you see it on Truth Social, you know it’s directly from President Trump. That’s the beauty of this president in his transparency in relaying this administration’s policies to the rest of you and to the rest of the world.”
Democrats quickly seized on the apparent contradiction from almost two weeks ago.
“Unless it’s racist. Then suddenly a staffer grabbed his phone,” posted the press office of California Governor Gavin Newsom on X.
U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer similarly posted, “And now @PressSec confirms: Donald Trump posted the racist video of the Obamas.”
While Trump has condemned the racist video after being pressed repeatedly, he has refused to apologize to the Obamas and has largely defended the video.
President Obama recently addressed the personal attack on him and his wife, saying, “It’s important to recognize that the majority of the American people find this behavior deeply troubling.”
America’s first Black president added, “It is true that it gets attention, that it’s a distraction. But as I’m traveling around the country, you meet people… they still believe in decency, courtesy, kindness. And there’s this sort of clown show that’s happening in social media and on television.”
When asked last week if the unnamed staffer who the White House claims posted the racist video was fired or disciplined for the action, the president said, “No, I haven’t.”
