White House rejects ‘fake outrage’ after Trump posts election conspiracy video with Obamas depicted as monkeys

2026-02-06 - 14:26

The White House on Friday rejected what it called “fake outrage” after US President Donald Trump posted an election conspiracy video that depicted former president Barack Obama and his wife Michelle as monkeys. “This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the king of the jungle and Democrats as characters from The Lion King. Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement to AFP. Near the end of a one-minute-long video posted on Trump’s Truth Social platform on Thursday, the Obamas are shown with their faces on the bodies of monkeys for about one second. The song ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ plays in the background when the Obamas appear. The video repeats false allegations that ballot-counting company Dominion Voting Systems helped steal the 2020 election from Trump. As of early Friday morning, the video had been liked several thousand times on the president’s social media platform. The office of California Governor Gavin Newsom, a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate and a prominent Trump critic, slammed