President Donald Trump ambushed South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with a video he said backs up claims of "White genocide" in South Africa, dimming the lights in the Oval Office and playing it out on screens during the bilateral meeting.
"We have thousands of stories talking about it. We have documentaries, we have news stories," Trump said, turning to aides. "I could show you a couple of things."
"Turn the lights on, and just put this on," Trump said.
The nearly five-minute video played out and was later posted on the White House X account, which they said shows "Proof of Persecution in South Africa."
Ramaphosa initially laughed and then looked visibly uncomfortable during the presentation.
At one point Ramaphosa asked, "Have they told you where that is?"
Trump shook his head no.
"I'd like to know where that is, because this, I've never seen," Ramaphosa said.
"It's in South Africa," Trump said.
Asked by a reporter what he'd like Ramaphosa to do about what was seen in the video, Trump said, "I don't know."
Trump picked up a thick stack of articles he said backed up his claims of "White genocide" and flipped through them.
During the meeting, Ramaphosa disputed Trump's claim that White South Africans are suffering "genocide" in the country. Trump and several members of his administration, including South Africa-born adviser Elon Musk, have said that the South African government is persecuting its White minority. South Africa has strenuously denied the claims.
Ramaphosa defended his country's land expropriation policy after criticism from Trump during the meeting.
"Our constitution guarantees and protects the sanctity of tenure of land ownership, and that constitution protects all South Africans with regard to land ownership," Ramaphosa said, starting to explain that his government aims to redistribute land due to iniquities in the country from the decades-long apartheid regime that ruled South Africa until 1994.
"Your government also has the right to expropriate land for public use," Ramaphosa continued, before the US president interrupted him.
"You're taking people's land away from them," Trump said.
"We have not," Ramaphosa responded, before the US president continued.
"They're being executed, and they happen to be White, and most of them happen to be farmers, and that's a tough situation. I don't know how you explain that," Trump said.
Ramaphosa's response
While leaving the White House Ramaphosa told reporters his meeting with President Trump "went very well".
The two met privately in the Oval Office after speaking to reporters beforehand. During the public portion of the meeting, Trump repeated conspiracy theories on "White genocide" in South Africa.
Ramaphosa pushed back against the claims. He acknowledged "criminality" in the country but insisted that "people who do get killed, unfortunately through criminal activity, are not only White people, majority of them are Black people."
When CNN asked as he left the White House if he believed Trump heard him, Ramaphosa responded, "Yes, he did."
Later, Ramaphosa said his delegation "harped on" about US investment in South Africa in their private meeting, and noted that South Africans were concerned that the meeting might have ended with Trump imposing harsh economic penalties on their country.
"I was rather pleased that there is a firm agreement and undertaking that we are going to continue engaging, so there is no disengagement," Ramaphosa continued, repeating a statement he made in the Oval Office that he travelled to Washington to "reset" the relationship between his country and the US.
Ramaphosa added that the reset was needed after diplomacy between the US and South Africa was "contaminated" by disagreements over South Africa accusing Israel of genocide in international court and, of course, Trump's belief that White South Africans are being oppressed.
Later, in response to a reporter's question, Ramaphosa said unambiguously: "There is no genocide in South Africa."
- CNN live coverage
