WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday described AI-manipulated videos that President Donald Trump posted on social media of House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries as a joke, dismissing complaints from Democrats that the videos were racist.

Trump is butting heads with Democratic leaders over a government shutdown that is in its first day.

On Monday, he posted a clip on his Truth Social account featuring Jeffries speaking outside the White House with a superimposed handlebar mustache and a sombrero, while Mariachi music plays in the background. Jeffries is Black, with his mother tracing her roots to Cape Verde.

After Jeffries condemned the original post as “disgusting” in an MSNBC interview, Trump posted a video of Jeffries from that interview, with a mustache a

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