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The White House on Friday removed an election conspiracy video shared by President Donald Trump on social media that included racist imagery depicting former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama as apes, following swift condemnation from Democrats and Republicans alike.
A White House official said a staffer “erroneously made the post,” though the video had been shared directly to Trump’s Truth Social account late Thursday night. A link to the post now returns a “not found” message.
The video, which runs just over a minute, promotes false claims that the 2020 presidential election was rigged against Trump. Near its conclusion, a brief clip shows the Obamas’ faces digitally superimposed onto primates’ bodies as the song “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” plays.
Trump shared the video at 11:44 p.m. Thursday, igniting immediate backlash on Capitol Hill and across social media.
White House response and backlash
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt initially defended the post earlier Friday, characterizing the footage as part of an “internet meme video” portraying 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,” Leavitt said at the time.
Hours later, the White House removed the video and attributed the post to staff error.
There was no immediate comment from Trump himself.
Lawmakers condemn footage
The imagery drew sharp criticism from lawmakers in both parties.
Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., denounced the video and urged its removal.
“Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House,” Scott wrote on social media. Scott is the longest-serving Black senator in U.S. history and chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee.
Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., also called for the post to be deleted.
“The President’s post is wrong and incredibly offensive — whether intentional or a mistake — and should be deleted immediately with an apology offered,” Lawler said.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said Republicans should unequivocally condemn what he called Trump’s “disgusting bigotry.”
“President Obama and Michelle Obama are brilliant, compassionate and patriotic Americans,” Jeffries wrote. “Donald Trump is a vile, unhinged and malignant bottom feeder.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a frequent Trump critic, said the video reflected “disgusting behavior by the President” and called on Republicans to denounce it.
Origins of the video
The clip shared by Trump appears to be derived from a longer, AI-generated video first posted on X in October by the user @xerias_x, who described Trump as “King of the Jungle.”
That original video depicts multiple prominent Democrats as animals, including Hillary Clinton as a warthog, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a donkey, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer as a zebra, former President Joe Biden as a primate and former Vice President Kamala Harris as a turtle. Trump is portrayed as a lion.
The shortened version shared by Trump on Truth Social included only the imagery involving Barack and Michelle Obama.
History of racist imagery and election falsehoods
Obama was the nation’s first Black president, and Michelle Obama was the first Black first lady. Trump has repeatedly shared disparaging and racially charged content about the Obamas over the years and was a leading proponent of the racist “birther” conspiracy theory falsely claiming Obama was born in Kenya.
Trump formally acknowledged during the 2016 campaign that Obama was born in the United States after years of pressure to disavow the claim.
A spokeswoman for the Obamas said they had no comment.
Election conspiracy claims persist
The video also repeats debunked claims that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. Despite extensive investigations, audits and dozens of court rulings, there has been no evidence of widespread fraud that would have altered the election’s outcome.
Former Attorney General Bill Barr said the Justice Department found no such evidence, and courts dismissed numerous lawsuits brought by Trump’s campaign and allies.
The video further amplifies false allegations involving Dominion Voting Systems. Those claims led to high-profile defamation lawsuits, including settlements in which Fox News agreed to pay Dominion $787.5 million in 2023 and Newsmax agreed to pay $67 million last year. Dominion also reached a confidential settlement with Rudy Giuliani in September.
Former special counsel Jack Smith told House investigators in December that Giuliani later disavowed some of the false claims he had publicly made about the election.
Smith oversaw the prosecution of Trump related to efforts to overturn the 2020 election results. Trump denied wrongdoing, and the case was dropped after he won a second term in November 2024.
