Rep. Burgess Owens on Trump's Truth Social post: 'We all make mistakes'
Owens initially defended Trump as someone who makes mistakes, then said the imagery was offensive and should never have been shared.

SOURCE CHECK
TAP FOR WHYCredibility rates Yahoo News, which republished this story. The other scores rate the article itself.
Yahoo News is an established national news publisher, though the article is brief and does not provide extensive original sourcing or a direct response from Trump. The reporting attributes statements to the officials and lawmakers quoted.
- Source type — An established national news publisher, supporting a relatively strong baseline.
- Transparency — Statements are attributed to named officials, lawmakers, or the Deseret News.
- Author attribution — The article has a named author.
- Editorial standards — The article presents attributed reporting, but the short text offers limited detail for assessing its reporting process.
The article supplies multiple named reactions and attributes them clearly, including an explanation from the White House and a later correction about how the post was made. It is brief and does not include a direct statement from Trump or further verification of the staffer’s role.
HOW WE SCORE ↗The report includes the White House’s explanation, the account that a staffer posted the video in error, and criticism from several Republicans, as well as Owens’s initial defense and later condemnation. It gives little detail beyond those statements and includes no direct response from Trump.
- Counterarguments presented — The White House’s explanation appears alongside lawmakers’ criticism of the post.
- Source diversity — Several lawmakers and White House officials are quoted, though there is no direct comment from Trump.
- Omitted context — The article offers limited detail about how the post was made and no additional verification of the staffer’s role.
- Loaded language — The article uses restrained language overall and attributes judgments to quoted speakers.
The article reports the post, the White House explanation and criticism from several Republicans without adopting an explicit partisan argument. Its account of the racist imagery and responses is presented in straightforward news language.
- Language tone — Mostly descriptive language, with the depiction characterized as racist and offensive in reporting or attributed reactions.
- Source selection — Includes a White House explanation and criticism from several Republican lawmakers.
- Framing — Centers Owens’s changing response to the post rather than advancing a partisan argument.
Republished
Republished from Deseret News. The relationship between the two publishers has not been determined.
75 stories · 76–78 · updated Oct 12, 2026
This is Deseret News's own score, and this article is credited to Deseret News. The host score in the Source Check is Yahoo News's.
After President Donald Trump’s account shared a video depicting Barack and Michelle Obama with ape imagery, Rep. Burgess Owens first defended Trump as a good man who makes mistakes, then called the imagery offensive and inappropriate. Other Republicans also criticized the post.
A video shared on Trump’s Truth Social account included an edited image of Barack and Michelle Obama with their heads placed on ape bodies. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described it as an internet meme, and a senior White House official later said a staffer had mistakenly made the post and that it had been taken down. Republican lawmakers, including Tim Scott, Michael Lawler, John Curtis and Mike Kennedy, criticized it.
Owens initially told the Deseret News, “We all make mistakes,” and praised Trump’s character and policies. Later, Owens said the imagery was “wildly offensive and inappropriate,” especially as a Black man, and added that it should never have been shared or created.
Community verdict
VOTING CLOSEDNo good or bad look here
This story reports what happened without casting Owens in a good or bad light, so readers don’t rate it and it doesn’t count toward Owens’s record.
People in this story
SWIPE →Utah representative who first defended Trump and later condemned the imagery
President whose Truth Social account shared the video
Trump's version of this story ↗New York representative who urged Trump to delete the post and apologize
White House press secretary who characterized the video as an internet meme
South Carolina senator who criticized the post
Utah senator who called the post racist and inexcusable
Utah representative who criticized the imagery and welcomed its removal
Part of a bigger story
2 OUTLETS- ARTICLES
- 3
- OUTLETS
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- AVG CRED
- 78
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