President Donald Trump privately expressed anger toward several Republican lawmakers, including Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama, after some in his party publicly condemned a video briefly posted to his Truth Social account earlier this month, according to a report by CNN.
CNN reported that after refusing to apologize for the post, Trump spent last weekend complaining to allies about Republicans who had condemned the video, questioning their loyalty and vowing consequences, according to sources familiar with his comments.
As Breitbart News covered on February 6, a video posted to Trump’s Truth Social account, which focused primarily on the 2020 election, included a roughly two-second snippet at the end from a broader AI-generated, cartoon-style video. The clip depicted the Obamas’ faces, as well as former President Joe Biden’s, on the bodies of cartoon apes. Other Democrats, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), were portrayed as various animals, while Trump was shown as a lion, with the animals bowing at the end.
A senior White House official told CNN at the time that a staffer “erroneously made the post” and that it had been taken down. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt explained the clip was taken from an internet meme video depicting Trump as “the King of the Jungle” and Democrats as characters from The Lion King, calling the reaction “fake outrage.” In an exclusive interview with Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow, Leavitt described the uproar as “fake news.”
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) wrote on X that he was “praying it was fake because it’s the most racist thing I’ve seen out of this White House” and urged that it be removed. CNN noted that Scott, who speaks regularly with Trump, also attempted to reach the president privately before posting publicly. According to the network, Trump later called Scott and indicated he intended to have his team take down the post.
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One that he had only seen the first portion of the video about alleged voter fraud and not the final frames before it was posted. “We took it down as soon as we found out about it,” he said, adding that “nobody knew that that was at the end.” When asked if he condemned the video, Trump replied, “Of course I do.”
Trump was particularly upset with Scott and Britt over their public criticism, in CNN’s account. A senior administration official told the network that the president believed Scott could have handled the matter privately, saying, “We work together all the time. He didn’t need to comment publicly.” The report also stated that Trump used expletives in reference to Britt and declared that she was “dead to me,” according to one source cited by CNN.
The network added that independent journalist Laura Loomer provided Trump with printouts of statements from Republicans who had condemned the post and wrote on X that she was compiling a list of those who had “attacked” him with “false accusations of racism.”
Britt’s office disputed CNN’s assertions, calling it “classic fake news” and emphasizing that she has a “100% voting record with President Trump” and remains “one of his strongest allies in the Senate.” Her office claimed she recently had a “tremendous conversation” with the president regarding her work to defend ICE officers, pass the SAVE America Act, and advance his policy agenda. The White House also described Britt as “an incredible ally” for whom the president has “great respect,” according to CNN.
During the 2022 Senate runoff, Trump withdrew support from Rep. Mo Brooks and issued his “Complete and Total Endorsement” of Britt, who expressed gratitude for his backing. At the time, Trump described her as a “fearless America First warrior” and “an Incredible Fighter for the people of Alabama.”
Britt was the final Republican in Alabama’s congressional delegation to endorse Trump for president, doing so in December 2023 just ahead of a presidential debate in her home state of Alabama. By that time, Trump had built an unsurmountable polling lead in the primary and many more congressional endorsements than any of the other Republican candidates.
Despite these endorsements, Britt made no mention of Trump during her nearly 18-minute Republican response to President Joe Biden’s March 2024 State of the Union address. Delivering the rebuttal from her kitchen, she focused her remarks on border security, rising costs, crime, and support for in vitro fertilization.
A lawyer working in the Trump orbit told Rolling Stone that Britt’s speech was “cringe.” One national Republican consultant told the outlet, “I’ll give Biden this — he at least gave a better speech than Katie Britt,” while a Trump adviser reportedly said, “What the hell am I watching right now?” The late conservative commentator Charlie Kirk wrote that while Britt may be “a sweet mom and person,” “this speech is not what we need.” A Daily Beast report cited Republicans who were “privately freaking out,” with one saying, “Everyone’s losing it. It’s one of our biggest disasters ever.” Trump congratulated Britt at the time, particularly praising her comments on migrant crime.
Additional controversy followed over Britt’s retelling of a human trafficking case during the rebuttal, which Breitbart News reported sparked intense blowback and overshadowed Republican attempts to attack President Joe Biden. Former Associated Press reporter Jonathan M. Katz argued that the events Britt referenced occurred in Mexico between 2004 and 2008, before Biden was president or vice president, raising questions about the framing of the story as part of her critique of Biden’s border policies. Britt’s spokesman told Politico that the story she told was “100% correct,” and Britt later clarified she did not intend to suggest the incident was Biden’s fault.
Britt’s rebuttal was parodied on NBC’s Saturday Night Live in a cold open sketch in which Scarlett Johansson portrayed the Alabama senator. In the segment, Johansson appeared in a kitchen setting similar to Britt’s and mocked both her delivery style and her human trafficking anecdote. The character described herself as auditioning for the role of “scary mom” and exaggerated the emotional tone of Britt’s speech. The sketch also included a line stating that every detail of the trafficking story was real “except the year, where it took place, and who was president when it happened.”
At the 2024 Academy Awards, host Jimmy Kimmel referenced Britt while discussing actress Emma Stone’s performance in Poor Things, saying Stone played a woman with the brain of a child “like the woman who gave the State of the Union rebuttal,” prompting laughter from the audience.
The New York Times recently published a profile of Britt headlined “The G.O.P. Senator Who Can’t Stop Thinking About the Boy ICE Detained,” depicting her as a Republican who stands firmly behind President Trump in public while at times attempting to raise concerns privately through direct conversations with administration officials. The article centers on Britt’s reaction to viral images of a five-year-old boy in Minnesota whose father was arrested by ICE agents.
According to the Times, Britt first saw the photo while waiting in her car outside her son’s orthodontist appointment in Montgomery, Alabama, and texted her team asking them to look into the situation. The profile recounts how she later called Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to seek clarification about what had occurred and described her belief that “children should never be used as pawns.” The Times portrays Britt as someone who prefers quiet outreach over public confrontation.
Vice President JD Vance pushed back on establishment media claims that ICE had arrested a five-year-old boy in Minnesota. Vance said the child “was not arrested,” explaining that agents were attempting to apprehend his illegal alien father, who fled on foot, leaving officers to remain with the boy for his safety. “What are they supposed to do? Are they supposed to let a 5-year-old child freeze to death?” Vance asked. Department of Homeland Security officials stated agents followed standard protocol, allowing parents to choose whether children remain with them or be placed with a designated adult.
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