President Donald Trump shared a video showing a man in Florida that at one point said “white power” to stand up for his supporters, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said.
“The president did not hear that phrase in that portion of the video, and when it was signaled to him that this was in there he took that tweet down,” McEnany said during an appearance on “Fox & Friends” on Monday.
“But he made very clear to me that he stands with the people of The Villages, our great seniors, men and women in the Villages who support this president. He stands for them and his point in tweeting out that video was to stand with his supporters who are oftentimes demonized.”
Trump deleted his tweet on Sunday several hours after posting it.
Sen. Tom Scott (R-S.C.) had called on the president to remove the tweet while Joe Biden, Trump’s presumptive challenger, tried linking the video to the 2017 Charlottesville protests that ended with one dead.
“Today the President shared a video of people shouting ‘white power’ and said they were ‘great.’ Just like he did after Charlottesville,” Biden said in a social media post.
The video Trump shared starts with a man and woman driving in a golf cart with the signs “Trump 2020” and “America First” on the front. The couple are shouting, as are several people holding signs signaling opposition to the president.
The man driving the golf cart shouts as he drives away, “white power, white power.”
Asked again about the tweet at a press conference later Monday, McEnany said: “He did not hear that particular phrase when he tweeted out the video.”
She said he did watch the clip but didn’t hear the man.
McEnany’s remarks came after White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement on Sunday: “President Trump is a big fan of The Villages. He did not hear the one statement made on the video. What he did see was tremendous enthusiasm from his many supporters.”
