WASHINGTON - Former President Donald Trump's social media post featuring a racist depiction of Barack and Michelle Obama as apes was removed by the White House on Friday, hours after it was initially defended. The move came amid widespread condemnation from both Democrats and Republicans. Simultaneously, the Pentagon announced it was cutting ties with Harvard University, and a federal appeals court endorsed the Trump administration's policy of holding many ICE detainees without bond hearings.
The video, which amplified false claims about the 2020 presidential election, was shared on Trump's social media account shortly before midnight on Thursday. It included footage that portrayed the Obamas as apes. A White House official said a staffer "erroneously made the post," according to CBS News, which was subsequently taken down. Trump later told reporters he "didn't see" the offensive imagery, stating he only viewed the beginning of the video. "I just looked at the first part," he said on Air Force One, adding that he would not have liked the image either. He suggested that a staffer posted the video without his knowledge.
The video's initial defense by White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was met with immediate backlash. Several Republican lawmakers, including Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only Black Republican in the Senate, publicly urged Trump to remove the video. "Praying it was fake because it's the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House," Scott wrote.
In other news, the Pentagon announced on Friday it was ending all military training, fellowships, and certificate programs with Harvard University. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a statement that Harvard "no longer meets the needs of the War Department or the military services." This decision marks the latest development in the Trump administration's ongoing dispute with the university.
Additionally, a federal appeals court endorsed the Trump administration's policy of holding many ICE detainees without bond hearings. A panel of judges at the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the administration had properly reinterpreted an immigration law last year, disqualifying many unauthorized immigrants arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement from bond hearings. Previously, immigrants who had lived in the U.S. unlawfully for years were generally eligible for bond hearings.
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