The White House is responding today after Donald Trump posted a video of two toddlers that Twitter first marked as “manipulated video,” and later removed. In flagging the video, Twitter wrote “On Thursday, the president shared a version of the video which many journalists confirmed was edited and doctored with a fake CNN chyron.” The video on Trump’s Twitter feed showed a black child running from a white child with a fake CNN banner that read “Terrified todler (sp?) runs from racist baby.”

CNN originally showed the heartwarming viral video last September. In its real form, it showed the two toddlers hugging and was titled “what real-life besties look like.”

So why did Trump feel the need to show the doctored video? White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany was asked that question today during the White House briefing, but couldn’t quite explain why two toddlers were exploited “to make a crass political point.”

A CNN spokesperson reacted to the post saying, “CNN did cover this story – but exactly as it happened. Just as CNN has reported your positions on race (and your poll numbers). We’ll continue working with facts and invite you to do the same, rather than tweeting fake videos that exploit innocent children. Be better.”
Michael Cisneros, the father of one of the boys in the video wrote, “HE WILL NOT TURN THIS LOVING, BEAUTIFUL VIDEO TO FURTHER HIS HATE AGENDA‼️‼️‼️‼️”
And while Twitter has flagged the video, the owner of the video asked the social media company to remove it entirely.

Late Friday CNN reported:

Facebook and Twitter on Friday removed a video posted by President Donald Trump’s account that had twisted a viral video of two toddlers after one of the children’s parents lodged a copyright claim.

This is the first time Twitter has taken this step with the president, though both platforms have removed Trump campaign videos before.

Watch more of the background on the video above from Yahoo.