Mark Burns, an African-American pastor who has been a very public supporter of Donald Trump, has apologised for tweeting a cartoon of Hillary Clinton in blackface.

The deleted Tweet mocked the Democratic candidate’s outreach to black voters, saying: “Thank you for your votes and letting me use you again.

“See you in four years.”

Mark Burns has apologised for his incendiary tweet

The cartoon showed Ms Clinton dressed in a black T-shirt that read: “No hot sauce no peace!” and holding a placard saying: “#@!*✶ the police.”

The image brought a wave of condemnation on Monday - two days before Mr Trump was expected to finally unveil his immigration policy.

At first Mr Burns defended the tweet as satire.

“The picture is designed to do draw attention to the very fact that Hillary Clinton do pander after black groups, after black people,” he told MSNBC.

But within hours he deleted the tweet and apologised in a video.

“Obviously many people were offended by my tweet and it was not at all my intention ... I really am a shepherd to God's people and the last thing I would want to do is offend people,” he said.

He added that the tweet was designed to highlight how the Democratic campaign was exploiting black people for their votes.

Mr Burns is a high-profile surrogate or Mr Trump, speaking at the Republican National Convention in July, introducing the candidate at rallies and appearing frequently on television.

His role has only taken on more importance in recent weeks as Mr Trump’s campaign has attempted to woo black voters, who overwhelmingly back Mrs Clinton.