House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) isn’t buying White House efforts to try to diffuse blame for the posting of a racist video to Donald Trump‘s Truth Social account that depicted Barack and Michelle Obama as apes.
“This disgusting video posted by the so-called president was done intentionally,” Jeffries said in a video posted on Instagram on Friday afternoon. “F— Donald Trump and his vile, racist and malignant behavior. President Obama and Michelle Obama are brilliant, caring and patriotic Americans. They represent the best of this country.”
Jeffries called on House Speaker Mike Johnson and other Republicans “to denounce this serial fraudster who’s sitting at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue pretending to the the president of the United States.”
After the Truth Social video was posted on Thursday evening, drawing media attention and condemnation overnight, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt initially defended it while blaming the media. “This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from The Lion King. Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.”
But as Republicans like Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) called out the video, the White House took it down, blaming “a White House staffer who erroneously made the post.”
The White House has previously posted AI generated video depicting Jeffries in a sombrero and with mariachi music playing. It did not take down the post, nor did it offer an apology.
