Offensive tweet: President shares video of clash at demonstration that shows supporter yelling “white power.”

WASHINGTON — President Trump tweeted approvingly Sunday of a video showing a supporter shouting “white power,” a racist slogan associated with white supremacists. He later deleted the tweet and the White House said the president had not heard “the one statement” on the video.

The video appeared to have been taken at the Villages, a Florida retirement community, and showed dueling demonstrations between Trump supporters and opponents.

“Thank you to the great people of The Villages,” Trump tweeted. Moments into the video clip he shared, a man driving a golf cart displaying proTrump signs and flags shouts “white power.” The video also shows antiTrump protesters shouting “Nazi,” “racist,” and profanities at the Trump backers.

“There’s no question” that Trump should not have retweeted the video and “he should just take it down,” Sen. Tim Scott, RS.C., told CNN’s “State of the Union.” Scott is the only Black Republican in the Senate. “I think it’s indefensible,” he added.

Shortly later, Trump deleted the tweet that shared the video. White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement that “President Trump is a big fan of the Villages. He did not hear the one statement made on the video. What he did see was tremendous enthusiasm from his many supporters.”

The White House did not respond when asked whether Trump condemned the supporter’s comment.

The president’s decision to highlight a video featuring a racist slogan comes amid a national reckoning over race after the deaths of George Floyd and other Black Americans. Floyd died after a white police officer in Minneapolis pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes.

Trump’s tenure in office has appeared to have emboldened white supremacist and nationalist groups, some of whom have embraced his presidency. In 2017, Trump responded to clashes in Charlottesville, Va., between white nationalists and counterprotesters by saying there were “very fine people on both sides.”

Sherrilyn Ifill, president and directorcounsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund told CBS’ “Face the Nation”: “This really is not about the president taking it down. This is about the judgment of the president in putting it up.”