Donald Trump retweets video of supporter yelling 'white power', deletes later

The President soon after deleted the tweet as it had a racist slogan associated with white supremacists. A White House official who came to Mr Trump's rescue, said that the President had not heard "the one statement' in the video.

In the tweet (which was later deleted) the President had thanked "the great people of The Villages" - referring to the retirement community north-west of Orlando where the rally took place. "The Radical Left Do Nothing Democrats will Fall in the Fall. Corrupt Joe is shot. See you soon!!!," he wrote.

The tweet received heavy criticism from several political factions as US had recently seen severe protests over the death of George Floyd, a Black Minneapolis man, who was killed after a white police officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes.

Tim Scott, the only black Republican in the US Senate, said in an interview with CNN that the video was "offensive" and called on the president to remove his tweet. "There's no question that he should not have retweeted it and he should just take it down," Mr Scott told the network.

Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, condemned Trump. "Today the President shared a video of people shouting “white power” and said they were “great.” Just like he did after Charlottesville. We’re in a battle for the soul of the nation — and the President has picked a side. But make no mistake: it’s a battle we will win", Biden wrote on twitter.

President Trump has previously faced accusations of sharing or promoting racist content. In 2017 he retweeted three inflammatory videos from a British far-right group, prompting a rebuke from then UK Prime Minister Theresa May.