Trump was golfing and uncontactable for hours when aides tried to get him to delete his post of a fan chanting 'white power,' report says

donald trump virginia
President Donald Trump returning to the White House on Sunday after visiting his golf club in Virginia.

Nicholas Kamm/AP/AFP via Getty

  • President Donald Trump sparked widespread criticism Sunday morning when he retweeted a video showing a supporter yelling "white power."

  • Two White House officials told NBC News that aides tried to get the president to delete the video but struggled to get in contact with him for hours since he was golfing and had put his phone down.

  • They were finally able to reach him after about three hours, at which point the president agreed to delete the post, NBC News reported.

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President Donald Trump was golfing Sunday and not paying attention to his phone while aides struggled for hours to try to speak with him to get an inflammatory video deleted from his Twitter account, NBC News reported, citing aides.

The president stirred up controversy Sunday morning when he retweeted a video that showed a supporter yelling "white power." In his tweet, Trump described those in the video as "great people."

Trump white power
An image of the since-deleted tweet.

Donald Trump/Twitter

Two White House officials told NBC News on Monday that they tried to call the president to get him to delete the video but couldn't reach him for hours while he golfed at his course in Virginia and had put his phone down.

According to the report, the officials also tried to reach the president's deputy chief of staff, Dan Scavino, so he could get the president's attention but were unsuccessful reaching Scavino as well.

The video remained on the president's Twitter page for about three hours before they were finally able to reach Trump, and he agreed to delete it, NBC News reported.

The tweet, which Trump posted at about 7:40 a.m. ET, was no longer on his Twitter profile by 11 a.m., as Business Insider previously reported.

The White House press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, later defended the president, saying he had watched the video but had not heard the "white power" chant.

Judd Deere, another spokesman for the president, also said Trump "did not hear the one statement made on the video" but "did see was tremendous enthusiasm from his many supporters."

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