White House Faces Scrutiny Over Deleted Social Media Posts
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was confronted on Tuesday regarding whether the administration is grappling with a significant social media issue. This inquiry followed the deletion of two controversial posts within days of each other—one from President Donald Trump's Truth Social account and another from Vice President JD Vance's official X account.
Controversial Video Draws Widespread Condemnation
The scrutiny intensified after backlash over a Truth Social post shared by President Trump last Thursday evening. The video propagated baseless conspiracy theories concerning the 2020 election and concluded with a brief clip depicting former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama with their faces superimposed onto apes' bodies. This post prompted swift condemnation from lawmakers across party lines, media figures, and political commentators, who widely criticized it as racist.
Initially, Leavitt defended the video, characterizing it as an "Internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle" and dismissing the criticism as "fake outrage." However, shortly before noon ET on Friday, the post was removed. The White House later clarified that the video had been shared by an unnamed staffer and described the post as "erroneous."
Second Deletion Reignites Controversy
Days later, another deletion reignited public scrutiny. On Tuesday, Vice President Vance's official X account briefly posted a message that included a photograph of the vice president and Second Lady Usha Vance at what was described as "a wreath laying ceremony at the Armenian Genocide memorial to honour the victims of the 1915 Armenian genocide." The tweet was subsequently deleted.
An official from Vance's office stated that the post was "posted in error" by a staffer who was not traveling with the vice president's delegation. This action aligns with the Trump administration's policy, which avoids using the term "genocide" for the 1915 event. According to CNN estimates, Armenian deaths ranged from 300,000 to 2 million between 1914 and 1923, with most figures falling between 600,000 and 1.5 million.
Ottoman authorities themselves estimated that 800,000 Armenians were killed between 1915 and 1918. Whether through mass killings or forced deportations, the Armenian population in Turkey plummeted from approximately 2 million in 1914 to fewer than 400,000 by 1922.
Sharp Criticism from Armenian Advocacy Group
The Armenian National Committee of America strongly criticized the deletion of Vance's post, labeling it "disgraceful" and describing it as "a denialist action consistent with President Trump's shameful retreat from honest American remembrance of a crime recognised by all 50 states, the US Congress, the White House, and more than a dozen of our NATO allies."
Direct Questioning at White House Briefing
The issue reached a climax during Tuesday's White House briefing when Danny Kemp, the White House correspondent for Agence France-Presse, directly questioned Press Secretary Leavitt.
"Today, the Vice President's account posted and then deleted a tweet about the Armenian genocide, and then last week, President Trump's Truth Social account posted and then deleted a racist video about the Obamas," Kemp stated. "And the White House, again, blamed that on a staffer. I wanted to ask you, does the White House have a social media problem at the moment? Do you have an auto-posting problem that's leading to these mistakes?"
"No," Leavitt replied firmly. "As for the Armenian tweet that you're referring to, I would just refer you back to the White House's message that was issued on Armenian Remembrance Day, and there's been no change of policy at this time."
