Just before noon on Friday, a White House official told CNN that “a White House staffer erroneously made the post” and that it had been removed.
President Donald Trump on Friday removed a racist video from his Truth Social account after intense bipartisan backlash over the post, which depicted former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes in a jungle.
The video, which had been shared late Thursday night, was taken down nearly 12 hours later as condemnation mounted from both Democrats and Republicans, forcing the White House into damage-control mode.
In another unrelated post during the same spree, Trump shared a screenshot of a cryptic message reading, “This can be a great option if things don’t work out,” alongside a video clip of martial artist Bruce Lee in a fight scene.
Just before noon on Friday, a White House official told CNN that “a White House staffer erroneously made the post” and that it had been removed. The official insisted Trump was unaware of the video before it went live.
“The president was not aware of that video, and was very let down by the staffer who put it out,” one White House adviser said, as administration officials scrambled to distance Trump from direct responsibility.
The removal came after GOP Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina — the only Black Republican in the U.S. Senate and a close Trump ally — publicly condemned the post, describing it as racist and urging the president to delete it.
“Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House. The President should remove it,” Scott wrote on X.
According to GOP Senate officials, Republican lawmakers contacted Trump to express concern about the video, increasing pressure for its removal.
Earlier on Friday, however, the White House had sought to downplay the controversy, describing public anger over the post as “fake outrage,” before later reversing course and acknowledging that the video should not have been shared.
The offensive clip formed part of a broader late-night posting spree by Trump on Truth Social, during which he circulated multiple posts repeating his false claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged. Within one of the compilation videos he shared, an AI-altered segment showed the Obamas’ faces superimposed onto monkeys’ bodies, accompanied by the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight.”
Trump reportedly shared the video twice before it was removed.
The incident has renewed scrutiny of Trump’s online conduct and rhetoric, particularly as he continues to push baseless claims about voter fraud and float proposals for greater federal involvement in election administration.
The controversy over the racist video comes amid renewed scrutiny of Trump’s recent comments about the U.S. electoral system.
Earlier this week, he suggested that Republicans should “take over” election administration in multiple locations and floated the idea of federal control over voting.
“The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over,’” Trump reportedly said on a conservative podcast released Monday.
Speaking with former deputy FBI director Dan Bongino, Trump went further, adding that elections should be “nationalised.”
However, during an interview with NBC News correspondent Tom Llamas on Wednesday, Trump attempted to walk back those remarks.
“I didn’t say nationalise,” he claimed, despite the comments being recorded and widely circulated.
The White House sought to soften the impact of Trump’s statements on Tuesday, as concerns mounted over his rhetoric surrounding elections and democratic institutions.
Press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president remains committed to the U.S. Constitution but believes past elections have been plagued by “fraud and irregularities,” a claim not supported by evidence.