White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has hit back at suggestions that Donald Trump is racist and scoffed at a reporter for asking about it.
On Tuesday, the president seized on the passing of civil rights icon Jesse Jackson with a Truth Social Post taking aim at Barack Obama, as well as “radical left” critics who have questioned his standing with the Black community.
“Despite the fact that I am falsely and consistently called a Racist by the Scoundrels and Lunatics on the Radical Left, Democrats ALL, it was always my pleasure to help Jesse along the way,” Trump wrote.
“Jesse was a force of nature like few others before him. He had much to do with the Election, without acknowledgement or credit, of Barack Hussein Obama, a man who Jesse could not stand,” he added.
Jackson died days after Trump doubled down on a racist video from earlier this month, depicting Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama as apes.
But asked on Wednesday about Trump’s tribute to the civil rights leader, and specifically “where or when does the President believe he’s been falsely called racist,” Leavitt was clearly unimpressed.
“You’re kidding, right?” she scoffed.
“I will pull you a plethora of examples. I’m going to get my team in that room to start going through the internet of radical Democrats throughout the years, who have accused this president falsely of being a racist.
“And I’m sure there’s many people in this room and on network television across the country who have accused him of the same. In fact, I know that because I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”
The video of the Obamas was indeed viewed as racist—by both sides of politics—given it carried an old trope historically used by white supremacists to dehumanize Black people as an uncivilized threat.
“Praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House,” Trump ally Tim Scott, the sole Black Republican in the Senate, said at the time. “The president should remove it.”
Leavitt had initially blamed critics of “fake outrage,” but when the post was taken down hours later amid a furious backlash, the White House claimed that an unnamed staffer had posted it “erroneously.”
Today, however, in response to another question about a UK land deal, Leavitt assured reporters that anything on the president’s social media profile is “straight from the horse’s mouth.”
“When you see it on Truth Social, you know it’s directly from President Trump,” she said.
The briefing took place shortly before the White House hosted an event to celebrate Black History Month.
Speaking to supporters in the East Room, Trump did not reference Obama, the nation’s first Black president, as he spoke of other history-making Black Americans.
Among those Trump name-checked were boxer Mike Tyson, whom Trump praised for defending him against accusations of racism, and rapper Nicki Minaj, whose skin he praised as “so beautiful” while commenting on how long her fingernails were.
He also brought several Black members of his administration on stage, including Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner, White House pardon czar Alice Marie Johnson and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carter.
“As you look out upon this sea of Black Americans, this president hears you,” Johnson said.
“This president cares for you. Don’t let anyone tell you that this president right here, Donald Trump is not for Black America. Because he is.”
