Internal speculation over racist video centers on Trump or devoted aide | Donald Trump
White House officials have sought to deflect blame from Donald Trump for a now-deleted video of Barack and Michelle Obama depicted as monkeys, sparking internal speculation about whether the president or his aide Natalie Harp was responsible for the post.
The brief clip, shared Thursday evening on Trump’s Truth Social account, appeared in a video pushing conspiracies about the 2020 election. Invoking racist tropes, the video showed the faces of the Obamas superimposed on the bodies of cartoon monkeys dancing to The Lion Sleeps Tonight.
Speaking later to reporters on Air Force One, Trump claimed he had briefly seen part of the video, but then passed it to an unidentified staffer for release. Trump said he would not fire the staffer in question but would not apologize because he did not make a mistake.
“No, I watched the first part. It was really about voter fraud and machines – how twisted it is, how disgusting it is,” Trump said. “Then I gave it to people, usually they looked at the whole thing, but I guess someone didn’t and they posted it. And then we deleted it.”
Trump’s account sparked speculation in his orbit about the extent to which the president was responsible and which of his aides ultimately pressed “send” on the job. Besides Trump, only two aides have access to his social media account, sources familiar with the matter said: Dan Scavino and Harp.
Trump’s advisers quickly sidelined Scavino, given that he had been preoccupied lately with his new role running the presidential personnel office — and instead focused on Harp, who was previously embroiled in Trump’s communications.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment on the plot at the end of a tumultuous day, which began with the press shop defending the post before backtracking and blaming a staffer — a claim Trump also repeated in calls with Republican lawmakers.
In a call with Tim Scott, the only black Republican senator, who is also chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee and explicitly denounced the video as racist, Trump said it was a mistake by his staff and that he would remove the video, CBS News reported.
The decision to remove the video marked a rare turnaround for Trump, whose instinct has long been to stick to his most provocative statements — and given that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had previously dismissed criticism of the video.
“This is taken from an Internet video depicting President Trump as the king of the jungle and Democrats as characters from The Lion King,” Leavitt said. “Please stop this fake scandal and report today on something that actually matters to the American public.”
Harp, 35, is among Trump’s most dedicated aides. She joined his 2024 re-election campaign early on and quickly became known as the “human printer” because she travels with the president with a portable printer and spare toner so she can deliver tweets and news articles to him on paper.
Over time, Harp took on a broader role as a conduit of information to and from the president, passing him text messages, social media posts and news articles that she thought he would appreciate.
But she has also been criticized by colleagues for showing poor judgment — for example, when she sent an aggressive text to Trump megadonor Miriam Adelson in the summer of 2024, criticizing her $100 million Super PAC as mismanaged, a person familiar with the matter said.
At various times, Harp’s closeness to Trump and his tendency to operate outside the formal chain of command fueled resentment among other aides. More than once, people suggested to Trump that she was a liability and sought every opportunity to force her ouster.
But Trump consistently dismissed those concerns and rewarded Harp for his great loyalty, elevating him to the White House. And regardless of who was responsible for posting the video, Trump advisers said it seemed unlikely there would be any repercussions from the episode.
