United States President, Donald Trump, has defended his decision to share a controversial video on his official Truth Social account that depicted former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes, insisting that he committed no wrongdoing and owes no apology.

Trump spoke late Friday while addressing reporters aboard Air Force One, following widespread backlash that trailed the now-deleted post.

“I didn’t make a mistake,” Trump said, maintaining that the intent behind sharing the clip was not to promote offensive content but to highlight claims about alleged irregularities in voting machines used during the 2020 election.

According to him, he did not view the entire video before it was uploaded.

“I didn’t see the whole thing. I looked at the first part, and it was really about voter fraud in the machines, how crooked it is, how disgusting it is. Then I gave it to the people. Generally, they look at the whole thing. But I guess somebody didn’t,” he stated.

When pressed by journalists on whether he condemned the racist depiction contained in the video, the President responded, “Of course I do.”

The video, posted late Thursday, reportedly promoted conspiracy claims about the 2020 election and included offensive imagery portraying the Obamas as apes. It remained on Trump’s verified Truth Social account for roughly 12 hours before it was taken down Friday morning after bipartisan criticism and calls for its removal intensified.

Earlier, the White House had issued an initial defence of the post through Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, who described the clip as an internet meme that cast Trump as the “King of the Jungle” and Democrats as characters from The Lion King.

She urged the media to “stop the fake outrage” and focus on more pressing issues affecting Americans.

However, the video was later removed without a formal retraction from the President, even as criticism continued across political lines.