claim: White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said President Trump had authority to add words like "covfefe" to the language.
origin: A few days after President Trump inadvertently used the non-word â€œcovfefeâ€ in a tweet complaining about the media, the web site USPOLN published an article sayingÂ that White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer had claimed that Trump had the authority to alter the spellings of words. Published on 2 June 2017, the item read: < White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer drew widespread laughter from reporters when he insisted that President Donald Trumpâ€™s infamous â€œcovfefeâ€ tweet was not a misspelling. After one reporter asked Spicer if â€œpeople should be concerned that the president posted somewhat of an incoherent tweet last night,â€ Spicer simply replied, â€œNo.â€ The reporter then asked Spicer why the misspelled tweet stayed up for so long. â€œThe president and a small group of people know exactly what he meant,â€ Spicer replied, which elicited laughter throughout the room. Reporters then tried to ask Spicer what â€œcovfefeâ€ actually means, but he quickly moved on to another question â€¦ The press secretary then turned to defending the presidentâ€™s tweet. â€œYou donâ€™t realize how much this is all playing into Donald Trumpâ€™s hand, this is exactly what heâ€™s after. Heâ€™s that smart, believe me[.â€] â€œMy point is â€“ itâ€™s beyond whether or not it happened intentionally. Many of you may not like it, but the fact is that Donald Trump is the head of state and as such, it is within his legal right and power to decide how words in the English language are spelled, written, conjugated and all that good stuff â€¦ Because, thatâ€™s just one of the many perks of being President of the United States. It comes with the territory and itâ€™s up to you to decide whether or not you want to use it,â€ Spicer concluded. > Spicer made no such claim about â€œcovfeve,â€ asÂ USPOLN was a fake news site whoseÂ disclaimer explained: < DISCLAIMER: USPOLN may include information from sources that may or may not be reliable and facts that donâ€™t necessarily exist. These Articles should be considered satirical and any and all quotes attributed to actual people complete and total baloney. > Spicerâ€™s actual response to questions about the mistyped word did draw widespread media attention, however.Â The Boston Globe reported:Â < â€œDo you think people should be concerned that the president posted somewhat of an incoherent tweet last night and that it then stayed up for hours?â€ a reporter asked Spicer, according to audio of the briefing. â€œUm, no,â€ Spicer replied. â€œWhy did it stay up so long? Is no one watching this?â€ the reporter pressed. â€œI think the president and a small group of people knew exactly what he meant,â€ Spicer replied. > However, it is clear that the President simply mistyped the word â€œcoverage.â€Â