Trump refuses to apologise after sharing racist video depicting Obamas as apes

The clip, which was posted onto the US president's own social media network, showed the faces of the former American leader and his wife on the bodies of apes.

When their faces come into shot, the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight can be heard playing in the background.

When asked about the video while onboard Air Force One, Trump said that "of course" he condemned the racist parts of the video, but told reporters he would not apologise.

He also didn't clarify if he would fire the staffer who posted it.

The 62 second video was one of numerous clips shared by the President to amplify his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

"No, I didn't make a mistake," Trump said, adding that he didn't see the full video.

He went on: "I looked at the beginning of it. It was fine. I looked in the first part and it was really about voter fraud in, and the machines, how crooked it is, how disgusting it is. Then I gave it to the people. Generally, they'd look at the whole thing. But I guess somebody didn't, and they posted. We took it down as soon as we found out about it."

Trump's PR team has since claimed that the video was shared in error by a member of staff, despite it being up for 12 hours and being "liked" thousands of times.

The video's removal comes after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt rejected criticism of the post that depicted the Obamas, and claimed it was a Lion King reference.

Ms Leavitt 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."

A senior White House official told CNN: "A White House staffer erroneously made the post. It has been taken down."

Republican Senator Tim Scott was one of the many who criticised Trump's post online.

Mr Scott who chairs Senate Republicans' mid-term campaign arm, said on social media: "Praying it was fake because it's the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House."

Ben Rhodes, a close confidant of President Obama and former deputy national security adviser, wrote in response: "Let it haunt Trump and his racist followers that future Americans will embrace the Obamas as beloved figures while studying him as a stain on our history."

The Republicans Against Trump group also criticised the post and its "racist image".

Trump has a long history of intensely personal criticism of the Obamas and of using incendiary, sometimes racist, rhetoric. In his 2024 campaign, he said immigrants were "poisoning the blood of our country", language similar to what Adolf Hitler said to dehumanise Jews in Nazi Germany.