White House short-circuits claims of ‘racism’ after apparent accidental Truth Social post
After President Trump’s Truth Social account posted a video about election integrity, a strange AI video clip attached to the end of it drew accusations of racism, prompting a response from the White House press secretary
by Summer Lane | February 6, 2026
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt provided some context for a video posted to President Trump’s Truth Social account – a video that appears to have been deleted after social media shared it far and wide.
In the video, which appeared to be a bite-sized segment about alleged foreign interference in Michigan election equipment in 2020, viewers were caught off guard at the very end, when a second short AI clip popped up, shockingly depicting former President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama as monkeys.
However, it appears that this video was not part of the original election interference video and had been tacked onto the end of the segment. The AI video in its entirety, posted again online by independent journalist Laura Loomer, depicts President Trump as the “lion king” of the jungle, along with other prominent elected officials – current and previous – in animal form.
“This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King,” said White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt in an initial statement to TMZ. “Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.”
Regardless, it seemed to have sparked some backlash among social media users and some commentators.
“Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House,” said staunch Trump ally Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.). “The President should remove it.”
Journalist Piers Morgan noted on X, “I sincerely hope President @realDonaldTrump didn’t realise this 60-second clip he reposted last night didn’t end with the vile racist imagery of the Obamas as apes. He should delete it immediately.”
It seems clear that the ending of the video originally posted on the president’s social media account was not something that he or his team was likely aware of when they posted the video, hence why the clip appears to have been immediately deleted.
One popular X account, “Mostly Peaceful Memes,” noted on social media, “It’s pretty clear that the Obama Monkey video was a reels auto play at the end of a screen recording of an election fraud video which is the video Trump actually shared.”
Indeed, that appears to have been the case.
Journalist and podcast host Steven Crowder observed, “If you want to take the video in its full context and say that’s racist, fine. What’s stupid is deliberately re-uploading something out of context to mislead people to believe that Donald Trump personally created and uploaded a racist screen capture of Barack and Michelle Obama as monkeys.”
The most recent update from the White House on this video seems to confirm that the clip was simply a mistake.
“A White House staffer erroneously made the post. It has been taken down,” a White House official said, according to Axios reporter Marc Caputo.
Photo: Adobe Stock
