Trump refuses to apologize for post depicting Obamas as apes and claims he’s the ‘least racist’ president

President Donald Trump has refused to apologize for a video shared on his Truth Social account— which was later deleted — that included a racist image depicting former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes.

During a press gaggle 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 on his staff watched the entire video, it was taken down. The post appeared on the president’s Truth Social account for around 12 hours Friday. 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 thousands of things, I looked at the beginning of it. It was fine," Trump said.

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South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, a Republican, said he was "praying it was fake."

"It's the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House. The President should remove it," Scott, who is Black, said in a post on X before the video was deleted.

Senator Roger Wicker, a Republican from Mississippi, said in an X post that Trump “should take it down and apologize.”

Doug Heye, a Republican strategist, told The New York Times that the condemnation from Republicans was unusual. He said the White House “realized what a colossal screw-up this was, and they realized that because elected Republicans were directly pushing back on them for one of the rare times we’ve ever seen.”

Trump was asked if he worried that sharing the racist video — even inadvertently — was going to hurt the gains he made with minority voters in 2024. He said no and insisted he’s done more for minority voters than any other president.

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“We did criminal justice reform. I did the historically Black colleges and universities. I got them funded. Nobody has been — and that's why I got a tremendous the highest vote with male Black voters,” he said. “And I am, by the way, the least racist president you've had in a long time.”

Another reporter noted to Trump that he admitted to not watching the racist video in full before he sent it off to his staff to share it on Truth Social.

“You frequently criticize Joe Biden for not knowing what is going on in his name, this racist video that was posted on your social media —” the reporter said before Trump cut him off.

“I know Biden a whole hell of a lot better than you do,” Trump snapped. “You don't know what's going on. I know what's going on. Joe Biden didn't have a clue. But we know everything, and when you look at what's happening with our economy and think of it, we're way years ahead of schedule.”

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The Obamas typically ignore Trump’s attacks.

But during a Democratic National Convention speech in 2024 Michelle Obama made a rare acknowledgement of Trump’s comments.

“For years, Donald Trump did everything in his power to try to make people fear us,” she said. “See, his limited and narrow view of the world made him feel threatened by the existence of two hard-working, highly educated, successful people who happened to be Black.”

Trump was asked directly if he condemns the racist parts of the video, to which the president replied: "Of course I do."

When asked if he had any message for the Americans who were offended by the video, Trump said “I really have no message,” before insisting that the U.S. is the “hottest country anywhere in the world” right now.