President Donald Trump’s official account, Truth Social, removed a video Friday morning that showed racist images depicting former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as monkeys, following widespread bipartisan requests to take them down.
The depiction of the Obamas, posted late Thursday from President Trump’s official Truth social account, was included in a video clip alleging conspiracy theories about voting machines during the 2020 election. The post was left unattended for about 12 hours.
President Trump chatted with fellow reporters aboard Air Force One late Friday and said he would not apologize for the post. “I made no mistakes,” he said.
President Trump told reporters that he had not seen the entire video, but only the beginning.
“I didn’t see everything,” Trump said. “I saw the first part, and it was actually about machine voter fraud and how distorted it was and how bad it was. Then I gave it to people. Usually they see the whole thing, but I think somebody didn’t.”
When asked if he condemned the video, he said: “Of course I condemn it.”
The White House initially defended Trump’s post.
A screenshot of a video posted by President Donald Trump on the social media platform Truth Social on February 5, 2026. The video shows the faces of President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama superimposed on an animated ape.
Source: TruthSocial
“This is from an Internet meme video that depicts President Trump as the king of the jungle and Democrats as characters from The Lion King,” spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said in an emailed statement Friday morning when asked for comment.
“I want you to stop with this false outrage and start reporting on the things that actually matter to the American people today,” Levitt said.
Hours later, the post was deleted from President Trump’s Truth social account.
A White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a White House staffer posted the video by mistake and it has since been deleted.
The White House did not immediately respond to CNBC’s follow-up questions, including who the staffers are and how often they post from the president’s official account.
However, a person familiar with the matter later told CNBC that President Trump “did not see the video until it was posted.”
“As soon as he found out about it, he ordered it removed,” the source added.
Levitt’s initial response included a link to a lengthy video posted on October 24th from the X pro-Trump meme account.
The entire video shows the Obamas as monkeys, as well as other animals with the faces of prominent Democrats, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
(Left to right) U.S. President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama attend the funeral of former U.S. President George H.W. Bush at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, on December 5, 2018.
Mandel Gunn | AFP | Getty Images
The video depicts President Trump as a lion. The Tokens song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” plays in the background.
Sen. Tim Scott (RS.C.), a close ally of Mr. Trump and usually a trusted defender, slammed the images posted to Mr. Trump’s account.
“I hope it’s fake because this is the most racist thing I’ve seen in this White House,” the senator wrote in a post to X.
“The president should delete it,” he added before the post was deleted.
New York Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, who is considered at risk of losing his House seat in the November election, also criticized Trump’s post.
“The president’s post is wrong and deeply offensive, whether intentionally or by mistake, and should be immediately removed with an apology,” Lawler said on X.
The Obama Foundation did not respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
The video Trump reposted contained a watermark from a group calling itself Patriot News Outlets.
CNBC contacted the Patriot News outlet via email and asked for comment on the new video, who created it and for what purpose, and reaction to the video’s removal from Trump’s Truth social feed.
In response, the group said it was “not aware of anything that President Trump may have posted, including the video claiming to be from the Patriot News outlet. As such, we cannot comment or ask questions (sic).”
“Do you have a video or a link to a copy of the video that I can share?” the group said.
President Trump’s opponents may try to make the post an issue in November’s midterm elections, although there are still nine months left.
Mr. Trump’s fellow Republicans in Congress have expressed concern that he will not be able to maintain his slim majorities in both chambers in November’s elections.
“Mr. Trump’s posting of this video, especially during Black History Month, was a stark reminder of how he and his supporters truly view people, and we will remember that in November,” the NAACP said in a post on X.
Democratic elected officials quickly called on other Republicans to condemn the post.
“President Obama and Michelle Obama are intelligent, caring, and patriotic Americans,” Jeffries wrote in a letter to X. “They represent the best of this country. Donald Trump is a vile, unhinged, malignant bottom feeder.”
“Why do Republican leaders like John Thune continue to stand by this sick man? All Republicans must immediately denounce Donald Trump’s disgusting bigotry,” Jeffries wrote, referring to the Senate Majority Leader.
The press office of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, another Democrat mocked in the video, told X: “This is disgusting action by the president. All Republicans must condemn this. Now.”
“This kind of Jim Crow-style dehumanization is pathetic and a disgrace to members of Congress,” Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., said in his post about X.
—CNBC’s Eamon Javers contributed to this report.
