GOP lawmaker put on spot on CNN over Trump's 'overtly racist' Obama post

CNN's John Berman put a Republican congressman on the spot about an "overtly racist" post President Donald Trump shared overnight.

The 79-year-old president shared a video created by the conservative Patriot News Outlet that had an image of Barack and Michelle Obama's smiling faces superimposed on the bodies of apes in a jungle, with a clip of the 1961 song "The Lion Sleeps Tonight," by the Tokens, and the "CNN News Central" host challenged Rep. Mike Haridopolos (R-FL) to justify the post.

"Congressman, I want toask you about a video that President Trump posted on Truth Social overnight," Berman said. "He's gotmillions of followers there. Thevideo was about voter ID andelection reform. But at the end,and I don't know if you can seethis, it included a brief imageof the Obamas, an overtly racistimage of the former first ladyand the president as apes here.Now, it was at the end of thevideo. I don't know for surewhether the president saw it,but is this the type of messagea president of the United States,under any circumstance, shouldbe sending out to millions ofpeople?"

The lawmaker did not seem especially eager to comment on the president's post.

"Well, I've not seen thatvideo to you, just showed it tome," Haridopolos said. "But what I've tried to do,and I tried to do it on yourshow today, the number one thingthat we need to do is elevatethe conversation. I want to havemore transparency in government.So the reason, even though I'ma conservative, I come on CNN,let's have a thoughtfuldiscussion about how we moveforward in reforming ourelection systems. We havechallenges overseas in Iran, andI hope we can elevate our debatein general in America, becausewhat I saw recently this week inmy own Financial Services Committee were Democrats yellingat our own secretary of thetreasury because they're worriedabout losing a primary campaign."

Berman didn't let him off the hook that easily.

"And again, in the theme ofelevating the discussion, and Iknow you weren't aware of thatvideo, I don't think you werebefore," Berman said. "We just showed it toyou. But should it remain on Truth Social? Is that the kindof thing, in the spirit ofelevation, you would like to seethe president take down?"

Haridopolos tried to scuttle away from the question.

"Well, I'll take a look at itright after our show," Haridopolos said. "You kindof threw it at me right here,but it's something again. What all I can control is what I cancontrol. That's what my mom and dadtaught me, and what I try to dois elevate the conversation. Wehad a great hearing, forexample, this week with NASA, bipartisan support, making surewe're winning the space race.I'm proud to be on thatcommittee, led by Dr. [Brian] Babin, andmaking sure that we are numberone in space and we can havebipartisan cooperation on DHS aswell, as you mentioned, withbody cameras and more training.After all, we put it in thebudget in the House already thisyear."