President Donald Trump told reporters he didn't see the entire video before it was shared on his social media platform late Thursday night that included a racist animation of former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama depicted with the bodies of apes and suggested he won't apologize for it.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday evening, Trump said he only saw the first part of the since-deleted video that focused on debunked claims about the 2020 election.
"I guess during the end of it, there was some kind of picture people don't like. I wouldn't like it either, but I didn't see it," Trump said. "I just, I looked at the first part, and it was really about voter fraud."
At the end of the video, the Obamas' faces appear abruptly on the bodies of apes without explanation with the song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" playing over it. The video then ends back on imagery of the election conspiracy video footage.
Asked if he would apologize for the video, Trump said, "No, I didn't make a mistake. I mean ... I look at a lot of, thousands of, things, and I looked at the beginning of it. It was fine."
Asked if he condemned the racist portion of the video, Trump said, "Of course I do."
The video was shared on the president's social media account at 11:44 p.m. ET on Thursday. Following the backlash after the video was posted, the White House at about noon Friday said the post had been taken down from the president's page.
The Obamas had no comment when ABC News reached out to their representatives for a response. They have not publicly commented on the post, but later Friday night, they did make their first comments since the incident -- wishing team USA good luck at the Winter Olympics in a social media post.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, when first asked for comment early Friday, had said, "This is from an internet meme video depicting President 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."
Later Friday afternoon, a White House official told ABC News that a "staffer erroneously made the post."
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Asked by reporters Fridays who posted the video, Trump said he saw the video first -- but not the racist portion at the end, he claimed -- and then gave it to "the people" to have it posted to his account.
The meme video referenced by Leavitt was shared in October by the Hardin County Republican Party of Kentucky on Facebook, which led the chairman to issue an apology and deleted the post after swift backlash noting the long history of racist tropes depicting Black people as apes or monkeys -- a tool of slave traders and segregationists to dehumanize them.
The video reposted by Trump overnight included only imagery of the Obamas.
Trump's overnight repost was condemned by lawmakers on Capitol Hill, some of whom had called for it to be taken down and for the president to apologize.
Republican Sen. Tim Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate and also the head of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, posted on X: "Praying it was fake because it's the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House. The President should remove it."
Trump told reporters he later spoke with Scott over the phone on Friday.
During the conversation, Trump told Scott that the video had been posted by a staffer by mistake and that he would take it down, according to a source familiar with the call. The post was later removed.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, the first Black leader of a party in Congress, wrote on X: "President Obama and Michelle Obama are brilliant, compassionate and patriotic Americans. They represent the best of this country. Donald Trump is a vile, unhinged and malignant bottom feeder."
"Every single Republican must immediately denounce Donald Trump's disgusting bigotry," Jeffries wrote.
Republican Sen. Roger Wicker wrote in a post: "This is totally unacceptable. The president should take it down and apologize."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, wrote in a post: "Racist. Vile. Abhorrent. This is dangerous and degrades our country -- where are Senate Republicans? The President must immediately delete the post and apologize to Barack and Michelle Obama, two great Americans who make Donald Trump look like a small, envious man."
