Trump's 'Cheatin' Obama' comment may have 'racial undertones,' former Obama aide says

President Donald Trump's reference to former President Barack Obama as "Cheatin' Obama" in a Twitter post Tuesday may have "racial undertones," a former Obama aide said.

CNN's Jake Tapper addressed Trump's tweet with former Obama aide Jen Psaki later that day. "I don’t know exactly what he’s referring to with the 'Cheatin'," Tapper said. "It’s an interesting thing to bring up during the Stormy Daniels saga, certainly. What's your response?"

How did Psaki respond?

Psaki — who served as the White House communications director and is now a CNN contributor — went right to race as a possibility for Trump's remark.

"Given Trump’s history, you can also guess that there might be racial undertones there," she answered. "He was the founder of the ‘birther’ movement. Perhaps I’m going to a very evil place with that, but I think history tells us that’s a possibility ..."

"But do you think he’s saying that because he’s black, he cheats?" Tapper asked Psaki.

"I don’t know," she replied. "If he cheated, if he shouldn’t be president, if he wasn't warranted to be president. There's lots of possibilities. I think without the context of his history, I would never go to that. But I think that's a possibility."

What did Psaki say about the Rasmussen poll?

In reference to Monday's Rasmussen poll putting Trump at a 50 percent approval rating, Psaki said “one outlier poll tells you nothing."

"What you’re looking at is rolling averages," she continued. "His rolling average from the first year was 38 percent, which is 11 points below any other president since 1945. Next was President Clinton. So, yes, it's sort of sad actually that he’s grabbing this outlier poll ... What it means, I don’t really know. That’s just my best guess."

In contrast, the RealClearPolitics polling average puts Trump's approval rating at 41.8 percent, the Hill reported, adding that Obama's RCP average at the same point in his first term — April 4, 2010 — was 47.5 percent approval.