White House responds to Donald Trump's posting of clip depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as monkeys.

The White House defended Donald Trump after a controversial post on his TruthSocial account. The post depicted Barack and Michelle Obama as apes in an AI video, which has since been deleted.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt defended the post, claiming it referenced The Lion King movie, although there are no apes in that film.

Trump faced backlash for the post, which many labeled as racist. Republican Senator Tim Scott criticized the video as the “most racist thing” from the White House, though he hoped it was fake.

Trump's official account shared a video alleging election fraud by Democrats in 2020. The video included a watermark from PatriotNewsOutlet.com and briefly showed the Obamas as apes.

The White House later retracted its defense of the post, attributing it to an unnamed staffer, stating it was not shared by Trump. Leavitt had not previously mentioned a staffer's involvement.