President Donald Trump refused to apologize for a video he shared on Truth Social — and later deleted — on Friday that included a racist image depicting former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes.
During a press gaggle on Friday night on Air Force One, reporters asked Trump about the post. He insisted that he was the “least racist president you’ve had in a long time,” and placed the responsibility for the post on his staff.
“I looked at it. I saw it, and I just looked at the first part. It was about voter fraud,” Trump said. “I guess during the end of it, there was some kind of a people don’t like, I wouldn’t like it either, but I didn’t see it. I just I looked at the first part, and it was really about voter fraud in the machines, how crooked it is, how disgusting it is.”
He said that after someone in his staff watched the entire video, it was taken down. When a reporter asked him about calls from other Republicans to apologize for the video, Trump refused to take responsibility.
“No, I didn’t make a mistake. I mean, if I look at a lot of 1000s of things, I looked at the beginning of it. It was fine,” Trump said.
He was later asked directly if he condemns the racist parts of the video, to which Trump replied: “Of course I do.”
