Amid bipartisan outrage at President Donald Trump for posting a racist video of the Obamas, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., on Saturday denounced Trump’s longtime trolling of his predecessor.
“His behavior is disgusting, and the response has been disgusting,” Jeffries told MS NOW’s “The Weekend” in an interview, referring to the president’s and his aides’ excuses for the video.
Host Eugene Daniels asked Jeffries: “Do you think Donald Trump is a racist?”
“Look, if the guy is not a racist, he’s certainly doing the best job that he can trying to convince us otherwise as it relates to his behavior and the manner in which he’s conducted himself repeatedly for decades,” Jeffries said.
He praised President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama, and said Trump “continues to go after them and target them in ways that are unexplainable, other than the fact that he is just jealous and envious of their success, their eloquence, their brilliance and their professionalism — the exact opposite of the manner in which he conducts himself.”
Jeffries also defended the uncharacteristically strong language he used to excoriate the president in the video he posted Friday, in which he said, “F—k Donald Trump” and called him an “unhinged bottom feeder.”
“I felt compelled to communicate that in the most clear-throated way possible,” the House Democratic leader said.
Trump has refused to apologize for the video, which was posted to his Truth Social account on Thursday night. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt initially dismissed the backlash and said the depiction of the Obamas as apes was a reference to “The Lion King.”
But the video was later taken down after lingering online for about 12 hours. The White House subsequently said a staffer “erroneously” posted it. Then Leavitt told Fox News late Friday that Trump “spoke with lawmakers today out of respect for them” but dismissed the outcry over the video as “merely a distraction for the fake news media.”
The video, which superimposed the faces of the former president and his wife on the bodies of animated apes, was criticized by Democrats and Republicans alike.
Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only sitting Black GOP senator, said in a post Friday morning that the video was “the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House” and called on Trump to remove it.
Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., called it “totally unacceptable” on X and urged Trump to apologize.
Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., a frequent Trump critic, told MS NOW the video was “highly inappropriate” and said the president owes the Obamas and the public an apology.
“Most Americans demand better, including basic decency from our president,” Bacon said.
Other Republicans offered milder criticism.
Rep. John James, R-Mich., who is Black, said he was “shocked and appalled by the post” on X but stopped short of calling Trump racist.
Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., wrote on X: “These types of videos are morally wrong. Sadly, this kind of behavior happens on both sides of the aisle, and it needs to stop.”
Rep. Byron Donalds, a Florida gubernatorial candidate endorsed by Trump, had similarly neutral remarks. A senior staffer for his campaign told the Tampa Bay Times: “Team Byron Donalds had called the White House and learned that a staffer had let POTUS down.”
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.