President Donald Trump said he has not taken disciplinary action and has not found wrongdoing connected to a video about the Obamas that appeared on his Truth Social account.
A White House spokesperson said the video was posted by a staffer on Feb. 5. During an unrelated event on Thursday, Feb. 12, a reporter asked Trump whether the person responsible had been fired or disciplined.
“No, I haven’t,” Trump said.
He described the post as part of a longer video he characterized as being about voter fraud, adding that the segment drawing criticism had circulated online for years and had appeared elsewhere long before it was shared from his account.
The since-deleted post included a video repeating unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud in the 2020 election. Near the end of the clip, images of former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama were edited onto animated primates swinging through a jungle, set to music associated with The Lion King.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt initially downplayed the controversy, calling it an internet meme and urging critics to focus on other issues. The White House later said the content had been posted “erroneously” by a “White House staffer.”
On Feb. 7, Trump told reporters he did not believe posting it was a mistake and said he would not apologize, stating he had only watched the beginning of the video and considered it acceptable. He also said he was unaware of the ending at the time it was shared.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():focal(999x0:1001x2):format(webp)/Melania-Trump-Donald-Trump-Michelle-Obama-Barack-Obama-021226-b65d710bca6b41c49e013526c9f5abe2.jpg)
Trump has repeatedly made claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him, despite those allegations being widely rejected and repeatedly debunked. The staffer who allegedly posted the video has not been publicly identified.
