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White House, after defending post, says it was erroneous

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Lawmakers in Trump's party objected to post

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Incident raises questions about White House use of social

media

(Recasts paragraph 1, adds Trump quotes in paragraph 3, 5-6,

16; paragraph 24 has language some readers may find offensive)

By Trevor Hunnicutt and Steve Holland

WASHINGTON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump

condemned a video posted on his social media account depicting

Democratic former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle

Obama as apes, after it drew widespread criticism - including

from some Republicans - for dehumanizing people of African

descent.

The White House first defended the post, then deleted it

early on Friday, 12 hours after it ‌appeared.

Trump, asked by reporters later in the day if he condemned

it, replied, "Of course I do."

A White House official said that "a White House staffer

erroneously made the post" and it had been taken down.

WHITE HOUSE EARLIER DEFENDED POST, CITING 'FAKE OUTRAGE'

Trump said he ​looked at the "first part" of the video but

not the final scene that drew criticism.

"I didn't see the whole thing," Trump said. "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. ⁠Generally, they look at the whole thing. But ⁠I guess

somebody didn't."

A Trump adviser previously told Reuters that the president

had not seen the video before it was posted late on Thursday and

ordered it taken down once he had.

Both officials declined to be named. The White House ‌did not

respond to a question about the staffer's identity. Only a few

senior aides have direct access ​to Trump's social media account,

according to the Trump adviser.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt hours earlier had

defended the post, describing the wave of negative reactions as

"fake outrage."

The minute-long video shared on Trump's Truth Social network

amplified false claims that his 2020 election defeat was the

result of fraud. Spliced into ⁠the video near its end was a

brief, and apparently AI-generated, clip of dancing primates

superimposed ‍with the Obamas' heads.

A spokesperson ​for the Obamas declined to comment.

Trump has a history of sharing racist rhetoric. He long

promoted the false conspiracy theory that Obama, the president

from 2009 to 2017, was not born in the United States. Speaking

at a prayer breakfast on Thursday, Trump said Obama "was very

bad" and a "terrible divider of our country."

A RARE ‍REBUKE FROM REPUBLICANS

The post drew bipartisan criticism, including from

Republican Senator Tim Scott, a close Trump ally who is Black.

"Praying it was fake because it's the most racist thing I've

seen out of this White House," Scott said on X. "The President

should remove it."

Other lawmakers in Trump's Republican Party called on him to

apologize and delete the post. Some Republican lawmakers also

privately reached out to the White House about the video,

according to a source familiar with the matter.

Asked about calls from Republicans and others for him to

apologize, Trump said, "I didn't make a mistake. I mean, I give,

I look at a lot - thousands of things."

Before the post was deleted, Leavitt said it was "from an

internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of ​the

Jungle and Democrats ‍as characters from the Lion King." Trump's

clip included a song used in that Disney ( DIS ) musical.

White supremacists have for centuries depicted people of

African ancestry as monkeys or apes as part of campaigns to

dehumanize and dominate Black populations.

"Let it haunt Trump and his racist followers that future

Americans will embrace the Obamas as beloved ​figures while

studying him as a stain on our history," said Ben Rhodes, a

former Obama aide, on X.

TRUMP'S USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Trump, serving his second term in office, has long used

social media to unveil policy, weigh in on issues and share

fan-generated content to his nearly 12 million followers on

Truth Social, a platform owned by his Trump Media & Technology

Group ( DJT ).

Thursday's post raised questions about the protocols used

around Trump's social media communications, which can move

markets and provoke adversaries.

Mark Burns, a Black pastor aligned with Trump, said on X

that the president told him on Friday that a staff member was

responsible for the post. Burns called for the staff member to

be fired.

Trump has criticized his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden,

for not tightly controlling the presidential memoranda

distributed under his name and signed by "auto-pen."

In December, Trump described Somalis as "garbage" who should

be ​thrown out of the country. He has referred to that and other

developing nations as "shithole countries." He was also

criticized last year for depicting House Democratic Leader

Hakeem Jeffries, who is Black, with a superimposed handlebar

mustache and a sombrero.

Civil rights advocates have said Trump's rhetoric has become

increasingly bold, normalized and politically permissible.

"Donald Trump's video is blatantly racist, disgusting, and

utterly despicable," said Derrick Johnson, national president of

the NAACP, a civil rights group, in an emailed statement.

"Voters are ‍watching and will remember this at the ballot box."