The Navy on Monday sought to explain why it tweeted WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Julian Paul AssangePsychiatrist says Assange told him he was hearing imaginary voices, music Assange extradition hearing delayed over coronavirus concerns The Intercept's Glenn Greenwald discusses U.S. case against Assange MORE's name, attributing it to an "inadvertent keystroke."

"This morning, an inadvertent keystroke by an authorized user of the U.S. Navy Office of Information's Digitial Media Engagement Team caused the trending term 'Julian Assange' to be tweeted from the Navy's official Twitter account," the Navy tweeted.

"The inadvertent tweet was briefly posted for a few second before it was quickly deleted by the same authorized user. The inadvertent tweet was sent during routine monitoring of trending topics."

This morning, an inadvertent keystroke by an authorized user of the U.S. Navy Office of Information's Digitial Media Engagement Team caused the trending term "Julian Assange" to be tweeted from the Navy's official Twitter account (@USNavy). (1/2) — U.S. Navy (@USNavy) December 25, 2017

The inadvertent tweet was briefly posted for a few second before it was quickly deleted by the same authorized user. The inadvertent tweet was sent during routine monitoring of trending topics. (2/2) — U.S. Navy (@USNavy) December 25, 2017

WikiLeaks responded to the Navy's statement, posting a screenshot of the original tweet.

Here a screenshot of the deleted @USNavy Christmas tweet about @JulianAssange. Note the use of quotation marks.https://t.co/Asfw6cH6C7 pic.twitter.com/7Gg6mVOoCx — WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) December 25, 2017

The incident came after Assange's account briefly disappeared from the social media platform before returning Monday morning. It is unclear why the account briefly disappeared.