Michelle Obama has accused incumbent President Donald Trump of spreading "racist lies" in a passionate Instagram post.
Per The Independent, taking to her official Instagram account, the 56-year-old former First Lady shared an image of herself and her husband Barack Obama attending Donald Trump's inauguration outside the White House back in January of 2017.
Michelle Obama once compared Trump's presidency to "living with a divorced dad":In an emotional caption addressed to her 44 million followers, Obama criticized Trump for pushing "groundless conspiracy theories", and reflected on how she was forced to put her personal feelings on the Republican leader aside in order to ensure a smooth administrative transition.
Michelle Obama wrote: "This week, I’ve been reflecting a lot on where I was four years ago. Hillary Clinton had just been dealt a tough loss by a far closer margin than the one we’ve seen this year. I was hurt and disappointed - but the votes had been counted and Donald Trump had won.
"We invited the folks from the president-elect’s team into our offices and prepared detailed memos for them, offering what we’d learned over the past eight years."
She continued:
"I have to be honest and say that none of this was easy for me. Donald Trump had spread racist lies about my husband that had put my family in danger. That wasn’t something I was ready to forgive.
"But I knew that, for the sake of our country, I had to find the strength and maturity to put my anger aside. So I welcomed Melania Trump into the White House and talked with her about my experience, answering every question she had."
Obama added: "I knew in my heart it was the right thing to do - because our democracy is so much bigger than anybody’s ego. Our love of country requires us to respect the results of an election even when we don’t like them or wish it had gone differently - the presidency doesn’t belong to any one individual or any one party.
"To pretend that it does, to play along with these groundless conspiracy theories - whether for personal or political gain - is to put our country’s health and security in danger."
A number of Instagram users swiftly took to the comments to praise Obama for speaking so candidly.
For instance, one person wrote: "Thank you for the example you provided for what a real President and First Lady do during a time like this."
Meanwhile, someone else added: "This is what we all needed to hear. Thank you for constantly being a beacon of hope to all of us."
Michelle and Barack Obama have openly pledged their support for former VEEP and projected POTUS Joe Biden throughout the 2020 election.
But in a recent interview with Gayle King on CBS Sunday Morning, the former president claimed that his wife Michelle would "leave him" if he ever decided to join Biden's cabinet.