![\"US](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/4JU32U4_AFP__20250624__63MR6B8__v1__HighRes__UsPoliticsNatoSummitTrump_jpg.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nBy Trevor Hunnicutt and Steve Holland, Reuters<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\nUS President Donald Trump has condemned a post from his Truth Social account depicting the Obamas as apes. File photo.
\nPhoto: AFP\n<\/p>\n
After defending post, White House said it was erroneous
\nLawmakers in Trump’s party objected to post
\nIncident raises questions about White House use of social media <\/p>\n
President Donald Trump has condemned a video posted<\/a> on his social media account depicting Democratic former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as apes, after it drew widespread criticism<\/a> – including from some Republicans – for dehumanising people of African descent.<\/p>\n The White House first defended the post, then deleted it early on Friday (local time), 12 hours after it appeared.<\/p>\n Asked by reporters later in the day if he condemned it, Trump replied: “Of course I do.”<\/p>\n A White House official said that “a White House staffer erroneously made the post” and it had been taken down.<\/p>\n White House cited ‘fake outrage’<\/p>\n Trump insisted he looked at the “first part” of the video, but not the final scene that drew criticism.<\/p>\n “I didn’t see the whole thing,” he 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.<\/p>\n “Then I gave it to the people. Generally, they look at the whole thing, but I guess somebody didn’t.”<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Both officials declined to be named. The White House did not respond to a question about the staffer’s identity.<\/p>\n Only a few senior aides have direct access to Trump’s social media account, according to the Trump adviser.<\/p>\n Hours earlier, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt defended the post, describing the wave of negative reactions as “fake outrage”.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the Obamas declined to comment.<\/p>\n Trump has a history of sharing racist rhetoric. He long promoted the false conspiracy theory that Obama – the president from 2009-17 – was not born in the United States.<\/p>\n Speaking at a prayer breakfast on Thursday, Trump said Obama “was very bad” and a “terrible divider of our country”.<\/p>\n Rare rebuke from Republicans<\/p>\n