Trump's publication sparked a racist scandal in the United States. The US President was called upon to immediately remove the video.
The White House rejected accusations of racism, calling them “false.”
“This is an excerpt from an Internet meme where President Trump is depicted as the king of the jungle, and the Democrats are depicted as characters from the cartoon “The Lion King,” said speaker Caroline Leavitt.
According to CNN, the video was published by mistake by one of the US administration officials.
The post was removed after significant backlash, particularly from Tim Scott, the only black Republican in the Senate, who called the post racist.
“I pray that this is fake because this is the most racist thing I have seen in this White House. The President should remove this,” the South Carolina Republican noted.
Sources told CNN that after the incident, several Republican congressmen contacted Trump to discuss the situation.
One White House adviser claimed that Trump allegedly did not know about the video and was “very disappointed” by the employee who published it.
