President defends sharing removed social-media clip, refuses to apologize

Reporters raised a removed social-media post that the White House said a staffer had uploaded. A reporter asked, "Who sent it, and are you going to fire them?" The President said he had "looked at it" briefly, saw the start addressing alleged voter fraud in Georgia and "didn't see the whole thing," and that staff posted it and took it down once they found out.

When asked whether he would apologize for the post, the President replied, "No. I didn't make a mistake." He described the post as "a takeoff from The Lion King" and said many people shared it; he said the post's strong statements about alleged 2020 voter fraud were the reason he forwarded it. He also indicated he "didn't do it" personally and called it a "retruth" done by someone else.

Reporters pushed for an apology and criticized the timing and content; the President rejected the request and defended his decision to share the item's opening section. When asked specifically whether he condemned racist parts of the video, the President replied, "Of course, I did."

The briefing did not identify the staffer responsible by name, did not announce personnel action, and did not provide a public timeline for any internal review. Reporters referenced calls from Republican figures seeking an apology; the President said some allies understood his position.