The White House blamed a staffer for uploading a racist clip of former President Obama and Michelle Obama on President Trump's Truth Social account. Aides first defended, then deleted the video, which portrays the Obamas as apes, Axios' Alex Isenstadt, Marc Caputo and April Rubin report.

• The post roiled the White House. Staffers reflexively defended the clip, but were besieged with calls from fellow Republicans begging them to take it down, a source familiar with the discussions tells Axios.

📱 The AI-generated video was on the president's feed for roughly 12 hours.

• The two-second snippet appeared at the end of a minute-long election conspiracy video that was posted at 11:44 p.m. ET last night.

The clip revives a centuries-old trope against the first Black president and first lady in U.S. history, during the first week of Black History Month.

• White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said when first asked about the post: "This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from [T]he Lion King."

🏛️ The video led to a rare rebuke of Trump from Republicans in Congress, including Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), the Senate's only Black Republican.

• "Praying it was fake because it's the most racist thing I've seen out of this White House," Scott, head of the Senate GOP's campaign arm, posted on X.

Go deeper: Trump revives racist imagery once seen as disqualifying.

The massive, final dump of Epstein files last week has unleashed a new wave of backlash over ties between the convicted sex offender and some of the world's most influential people, Axios' Jason Lalljee writes.

• 🔎 While high-profile people like Bill Gates and Elon Musk continue to face scrutiny without clear professional fallout, others across business, media, academia and politics are already paying a price — with resignations rippling from New York to Europe.

The people facing major consequences:

• Brad Karp: The longtime chair of elite law firm Paul Weiss resigned after emails showed he socialized with Epstein and sought career help for his son.
• Peter Attia: The longevity doctor and author stepped down as chief science officer of David Protein after thousands of mentions of him, including lewd exchanges, surfaced. CBS News is now reportedly expected to cut ties.
• David A. Ross: The influential art curator resigned from New York's School of Visual Arts after emails revealed his support for Epstein, including after his imprisonment.

🇬🇧 Across the pond, British politician Peter Mandelson, fired last fall as ambassador to the U.S., resigned from Parliament. His name appears thousands of times in the files, and he's accused of sharing proprietary political information with Epstein. (Get the latest.)

• Other senior figures in Sweden, Slovakia and Norway have resigned or come under investigation.

Keep reading.

1. ⛸️ Vice President Vance and second lady Usha Vance watched a Winter Olympics figure-skating competition with their children today in Milan. Vance also met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, one of the Trump administration's closer allies in Europe. Go deeper.
2. 🇮🇷 The U.S. and Iran held several hours of nuclear negotiations in Oman on Friday, and officials from both countries indicated they expect further meetings in the coming days, Axios' Barak Ravid reports.
3. ⚖️ Luigi Mangione said in court today that facing back-to-back state and federal trials for the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson amounts to "double jeopardy." A Manhattan judge set Mangione's state murder trial for June 8, months before jury selection for his federal case begins in September. Go deeper.
4. 💰 Wall Street banks boosted banker and trader bonuses by at least 10%, after a banner year in trading and dealmaking — though the biggest rewards are going to top "rainmakers," Bloomberg reports (gift link).

The Winter Olympics opened today in Italy, kicking off two weeks of early-morning medal events and late-night finishes for U.S. viewers, Axios' Kelly Tyko writes.

• Nearly 3,000 athletes from more than 90 countries will compete across 116 medal events, spanning 16 disciplines and eight sports.

🇮🇹 At this afternoon's opening ceremony, a parade of performers dressed as symbols of Italian imagination and creativity took the stage.

📺 A prime-time encore of this afternoon's opening ceremony coverage runs at 8 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.

• TV schedule ... Key dates ... Eye-popping outfits.