Overview
- At a Feb. 18 White House briefing, CBS’s Ed O’Keefe asked where or when the president believes he has been falsely called racist.
- Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt replied, “You’re kidding, right?” and said she would compile a “plethora of examples” and provide receipts after the briefing.
- The White House Rapid Response X account soon posted a clip of Don Lemon stating on CNN that the president is racist as one example.
- Leavitt framed the exchange ahead of a White History Month reception and cited HBCU funding, Trump Accounts, and protections for Black veterans as counterarguments to the label.
- The exchange followed controversy over a since-deleted AI video from the president’s accounts that depicted Barack and Michelle Obama as apes.