Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday laughed off criticism of President Donald Trump’s post of an AI-generated video that depicts House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries with a fake mustache and wearing a sombrero.
Vance claimed during Wednesday’s White House daily briefing that the deepfake video was just a joke.
“Oh, I think it’s funny,” Vance said, laughing. “The President’s joking and we’re having a good time. You can negotiate in good faith while also poking a little bit of fun at some of the absurdities of the Democrats’ positions and even, you know, poking some fun at the absurdity of the Democrats themselves.”
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Trump posted the video to his social media platform Monday, shortly after Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer had met with Trump, Vance and Republican congressional leaders to try to reach a deal to avoid a government shutdown. The video also dubs Schumer saying disparaging things about his party.
Vance continued to tease Jeffries.
“I mean, I’ll tell Hakeem Jeffries right now, I make the solemn promise to you that if you help us reopen the government, the sombrero memes we’ll stop,” he said with a laugh.
Jeffries called the video “racist” while he and fellow Democrats held a rally on the House steps on Tuesday.
“Mr. President, the next time you have something to say about me, don’t cop out through a racist and fake AI video. When I’m back in the Oval Office, say it to my face,” he said.
Vance said he didn’t understand why Jeffries took it that way.
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“Hakeem Jeffries said it was racist, and I know that he said that. And I honestly don’t even know what that means,” the vice president told reporters. “Like, is he a Mexican-American that is offended by having a sombrero meme?”
Jeffries continued to criticize Trump, Vance and Republicans for the shutdown on Wednesday, but he did not bring up the deep fake video or the vice president’s comments at the press briefing.
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“The president has been engaging in irresponsible and unserious behavior, demonstrating that, all along, Republicans wanted to shut the government down,” he said.
The Jeffries and Schumer deepfake video wasn’t the only one that came up in the press briefing.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked about an AI generated video Trump posted on Sunday that appears to show him and his daughter-in-law Lara Trump in a fake news report in which he promotes “medbeds,” which he said would cure a number of ailments.
“Medbeds” is a conspiracy theory rooted in the QAnon movement that falsely claims the elite have access to the cure-all beds but are being kept from the public.
The post was later deleted.
Leavitt would not say why Trump posted the video.
“He likes to share memes. He likes to share videos, he likes to repost things that he sees other people post on social media as well. And I think it’s quite refreshing that we have a president who is so open and honest directly,” she said.