The staffer whom the White House claims published the video on Feb. 5 has not been identified
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty; Mark Wilson/Getty
NEED TO KNOW
- President Donald Trump confirms no action has been taken against a White House staffer whom he claims posted a racist video of the Obamas
- On Feb. 5, the 79-year-old shared content to Truth Social depicting the former president and first lady as apes
- The White House initially said the video was a spin on The Lion King, before alleging that an unidentified staffer made the upload
President Donald Trump has stated that he has not taken any disciplinary action nor found wrongdoing related to a racist video of the Obamas that was published on his Truth Social account.
The White House has claimed the video was published by a staffer on Feb. 5, so a reporter asked the president if the person responsible for it had been "fired or disciplined" during an unrelated White House event on Thursday, Feb. 12.
“No, I haven’t,” Trump, 79, responded.
President Trump said he has not disciplined or fired the staffer that, according to both Trump and the White House, posted a video that included a racist animation of the Obamas. https://t.co/afgZ9G6ZEP pic.twitter.com/1RswHgZZ18
— ABC News (@ABC) February 12, 2026
“That was a video on, as you know, voter fraud, and fairly long video, and they had a little piece and had to do with The Lion King. It’s been very well, it’s been shown all over the place. Long before that was posted,” Trump said.
“And that was a very strong, and I’m sure you saw it, very strong piece on voter fraud. And the piece that you’re talking about is all over the place, many times, I believe for years,” he ended.
The since-deleted post included a video featuring unsubstantiated allegations of voter fraud during the 2020 election. Near the end of the clip, images of former President Barack Obama and his wife, former first lady Michelle Obama's faces were superimposed on animations of apes swinging through a jungle. The clip was set to "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," which was referenced in The Lion King.
In her first response to the criticism prompted by the post, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt downplayed the video.
"This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from The Lion King," Leavitt said. "Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public."
There are no apes in The Lion King, and the comparison of Black people to primates has a long, dark history, and "simianization" plagued the first Black president and first lady during their time in the White House.
After receiving backlash from the general public and fellow Republicans as well, the post was removed. The White House then issued a second statement, in which the administration said it was posted "erroneously" by a "White House staffer."
Rob Carr/Getty
On Feb. 7, Trump told reporters he "didn't make a mistake" by posting the content to his profile, and that he would not apologize for it.
"I mean, I look at a lot of thousands of things. I looked at the beginning of it. It was fine," he said. "I guess it was a take off on The Lion King and certainly it was a very strong post in terms of voter fraud."
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Trump has repeatedly made debunked claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him by former President Joe Biden.
"Nobody knew that that was in the end. If they would have seen it and probably they would have had the sense to take it down," Trump said.
The staffer who allegedly made the post has not been identified.
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