Trump ‘can’t be racist’ after appearing on stage with Nicki Minaj, claims political strategist

WASHINGTON, DC: A close supporter of President Donald Trump defended him against claims of racism by pointing to his recent appearance with rapper Nicki Minaj.

Legal and political strategist Kate Zacharia argued that the president’s popularity with minority voters proves he does not hold racist views.

Kate Zacharia cites Nicki Minaj appearance to defend Trump

During a February 6 appearance on 'The Story Is on CNN', Kate Zacharia pushed back against claims that President Donald Trump is racist.

The 41-year-old legal and political strategist argued that Trump’s track record with minority communities contradicts his critics.

"When Trump won the Hispanic-Latin vote by a historic margin, the most any Republican has in history, the most B*ack voters since the 1960s. He's not racist," she said.

Zacharia further reinforced her stance by pointing to a recent public appearance, saying, "He was on stage with Nicki Minaj the other day. I mean, this man is not racist. He made it very clear what happened in that statement."

Kate Zacharia stays firm amid the backlash

Zacharia continued to insist that the president did nothing wrong. She told the host that she had viewed the video herself and did not see any issue with it.

"I watched both that clip and the AI clip of The Lion King with the music, and I thought, 'This isn't racist,” she said.

Trump claims he didn't see full clip before posting

The controversy began after President Donald Trump posted a video on Truth Social that showed the faces of Barack Obama and Michelle Obama edited onto the bodies of apes.

The now-deleted video, which used music from 'The Lion King', remained on Trump’s account for roughly 12 hours.

Trump addressed the issue by insisting he did nothing wrong and would not apologize. When asked by a reporter whether he planned to apologize for the post, he replied, “No, I didn’t make a mistake,” adding that he had only watched the beginning of the clip before it was shared.

Trump said the portion he viewed focused on alleged voter fraud during the 2020 election and that he was unaware of the offensive imagery that appeared later in the video.

“I saw it, and I just looked at the first part. It was about voter fraud in Georgia, there was a lot of voter fraud, 2020 voter fraud,” he said. “I didn’t see the whole thing.”

Trump added, “I guess toward the end, there was some kind of picture that people didn’t like. I wouldn’t like it either, but I didn’t see it.”