Trump deletes racist video on Obamas after row, but refuses to apologise
The nearly one-minute video showed Obamas as monkeys for around a second. It was deleted later by the White House following a controversy.
US President Donald Trump on Saturday deleted a racist video of former President Barack and his wife Michelle Obama, depicting them as monkeys, following a massive outrage. Although he deleted the post, the Republican leader refused to apologise and said he had only seen the first part of the video, which he claimed was all about debunking 'false claims' about the 2020 US presidential elections.
"I guess during the end of it, there was some kind of picture people don't like. I wouldn't like it either, but I didn't see it... I just, I looked at the first part, and it was really about voter fraud," he told reporters aboard the Air Force One, while travelling to Florida from Washington.
"No, I didn't make a mistake. I mean ... I look at a lot of, thousands of, things, and I looked at the beginning of it. It was fine," he said, adding that he condemns the racist part of the video, though.
What was the video?
The one-minute video was uploaded on late Thursday, which was about the alleged conspiracies about Trump's loss to ex-President Joe Biden in the 2020 elections. In the video, the Obamas were shown as monkeys for nearly a second. The video caused a massive row, with White House later saying that the post was made 'erroneously' and it has been taken down.
"This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from The Lion King," said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt in a statement. "Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public."
Democrats condemn video
Though there has been no comments from the Obamas, the Democrats have condemned the video, with former Vice President Kamala Harris saying that everyone is "clear-eyed about" who Trump is. She further stated that no one believes in "cover up" by the White House.
Hakeem Jeffries, top Democrat in the House of Representatives, also criticised the video and also urged the Republicans to denounce Trump. Tim Scott, the only Black Republican senator, also condemned the video and said it is "the most racist thing" he has seen from the White House.