White House Removes Video Featuring Racist Depiction of the Obamas After Bipartisan Outcry

The White House on Friday deleted an online video that portrayed former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama using racist caricatures, hours after the clip had been shared on President Donald Trump’s social-media accounts. The removal followed swift criticism from both Democratic and Republican lawmakers, who said the post crossed widely accepted lines of public discourse and detracted from the administration’s agenda.

According to aides, the video was first uploaded to the official White House feed shortly after 7:00 a.m. EST. Minutes later, the same footage appeared on the president’s personal account. The clip used altered images and exaggerated accents to mock the Obamas, prompting immediate objections from members of Congress on both sides of the aisle. By late morning, the administration took the video down without explanation, replacing it with a brief message noting that the content “did not meet White House standards.”

Press officials initially declined to clarify who produced the video or how it reached the president’s social-media platforms. A senior communications aide, speaking on background, acknowledged only that the material “originated outside the West Wing” and was forwarded to digital staff for publication. A different spokesperson later offered a partial timeline, stating that no senior policy advisors had reviewed the clip before it went live, an admission that intensified questions about the administration’s internal vetting process.

Reaction on Capitol Hill was immediate. Representative Yvette Clarke, Democrat of New York, called the video “blatant race-baiting” and urged the White House to issue a formal apology to the Obamas and to the public. Several Republican lawmakers echoed those concerns, with two GOP senators releasing statements that labeled the post “unacceptable.” While partisan disputes over presidential communications are common, public rebukes from both parties are comparatively rare; a Congressional Research Service review shows only a handful of similar incidents over the past decade.

The controversy adds to a series of social-media episodes that have complicated the administration’s relationship with Congress. Earlier in the week, committees in both chambers had been preparing for hearings on unrelated policy matters, including budget negotiations and defense authorizations. Lawmakers involved in those discussions said the video forced them to divert attention to questions of civility and executive accountability, delaying planned procedural votes.

Civil-rights organizations also weighed in. While neither the NAACP nor the Anti-Defamation League was mentioned directly in the administration’s statements, representatives of both groups issued press releases condemning the imagery as a continuation of historical stereotypes aimed at African American public figures. The organizations demanded a transparent investigation into how the content reached official government channels.

Inside the White House, staff members spent much of the afternoon addressing the fallout. Two people familiar with the matter said an internal review had been ordered to determine whether existing social-media guidelines were properly followed. Those guidelines require multiple levels of clearance before any multimedia post can appear on an official platform. The White House has not indicated how long the review will take or whether findings will be released publicly.

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Former President Obama’s office declined to comment directly on the video. A spokesperson for Michelle Obama also declined to respond to inquiries. The Obamas have generally avoided public engagement with Trump’s statements, maintaining a practice of commenting only on select issues such as voting rights and civic engagement.

By early evening, the administration had not issued a formal apology. However, senior advisors privately acknowledged the political cost of the episode, noting that it risked alienating moderate lawmakers needed for upcoming votes on infrastructure and trade legislation. One advisor described the incident as “a distraction” that would require additional outreach to maintain working relationships on Capitol Hill.

House leadership has scheduled a bipartisan briefing for next week to review current guidelines governing official digital content. Lawmakers said the session will focus on preventing similar incidents and ensuring that material posted on government platforms meets established standards of accuracy and decorum. White House officials indicated they would cooperate with the briefing and provide documentation of their internal procedures.

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