Leavitt says Trump personally posts on Truth Social after Obama video staff blame

WASHINGTON, DC: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said this week that President Donald Trump personally controls what appears on his Truth Social account, calling the posts “straight from the horse’s mouth.”

Her comments come just days after administration officials attributed a controversial post about former President Barack Obama to a staffer, raising questions about who actually manages Trump’s social media presence.

During a Wednesday press briefing, Leavitt was asked about a new Truth Social post in which Trump criticized a proposed UK land deal involving the Chagos Islands. The reporter asked whether the message reflected an official shift in US policy.

Leavitt calls Truth Social posts official policy

Leavitt made clear that posts from Trump’s account should be viewed as authoritative.

“When you see it on Truth Social, you know it’s directly from President Trump,” she told reporters. She added that the post “should be taken as the policy of the Trump administration” because it came directly from him.

Truth Social has frequently served as Trump’s primary platform for weighing in on foreign policy, domestic politics, and cultural issues. The president has often used the site to announce positions before formal statements are issued through traditional channels.

Her remarks reinforced the idea that Trump’s posts carry official weight and reflect his personal views without mediation.

White House previously blamed staffer for Obama video

Leavitt’s comments, however, appear to conflict with what the White House said roughly a week earlier.

Trump had shared a video on Truth Social that showed Barack and Michelle Obama’s faces superimposed onto apes in a jungle while the song 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' played in the background. The post drew widespread criticism, with many calling it racist.

Amid the backlash, a White House official told The Independent that a staff member had “erroneously made the post.” The official did not identify the staffer.

Trump later told reporters aboard Air Force One that he had provided the link to someone else to upload and had not watched the full video before it was shared.

“I gave it to the people, generally they’d look at the whole thing but I guess somebody didn’t,” Trump said at the time.

Leavitt’s assertion that anything appearing on Truth Social comes directly from Trump has now revived scrutiny over who is responsible for content posted to the president’s account — and whether those posts should always be treated as official statements of US policy.