Donald Trump says 'leave it the way it is' about transgender bathroom protections in resurfaced video

Donald Trump's decision to axe rules that allowed transgender pupils to use the school toilets they felt comfortable in appears to go against what the President himself said he believed, according to a rediscovered video clip.

NBC's Today programme dug up a clip from a town hall event last year at which then-candidate Mr Trump said he did not see the need to change Barack Obama's ruling on bathroom rights.

Mr Trump said then: "There have been very few problems, leave it the way it is. People go, they use the bathroom that they feel is appropriate. There has been so little trouble."

But this week the US education and justice departments wrote to schools to say states would now have the ability to decide whether federal sex discrimination law applies to gender identity. Anti-bullying safeguards will remain in place.

Addressing the President's new stance, White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Mr Trump was "a firm believer in states' rights and that certain issues like this are not best dealt with at the federal level".

Officials in a number of states spoke out after the letter was sent to say they would continue to allow transgender children to use the toilets and changing rooms of their choice.

Eric Schneiderman, New York state Attorney General, called it "yet another cruel move" while Los Angeles schools boss Michelle King said students "will remain protected regardless of the new directive".

However, the Gloucester County school board in Virginia, which is currently fighting a Supreme Court case on whether it can ban a transgender male pupil from the boys' toilets, welcomed the new letter, saying it was "pleased" states' "primary role" in setting local policy had been recognised.