(CNN) Hillary Clinton came prepared with more than one zinger about the mystery word of the day: Covfefe.

At Recode's Code Conference on Wednesday, one of the moderators brought up covfefe -- a word that took on a life of its own after Trump tweeted a few minutes after midnight: "Despite the constant negative press covfefe." (The tweet has since been deleted).

"I thought it was a hidden message to the Russians," Clinton said, to laughter from the audience.

(At the crack of dawn on Wednesday, Trump had tweeted: "Who can figure out the true meaning of 'covfefe' ??? Enjoy!")

Clinton didn't stop there.

Later in the event, when an audience member again mentioned covfefe, Clinton mocked White House spokesman Sean Spicer's explanation from earlier in the day. Spicer had said that only Trump and a small number of people knew the meaning of the word.

"Ah, the small group explanation," Clinton said. "You don't have a high enough classification to know what covfefe means."

But at the conclusion of the interview, covfefe was suddenly no laughing matter.

Clinton, who lost on Election Day to Trump and believes she would have won had it not been for Russian interference, said the current president and his allies are constantly trying to create diversions.

"It's to avert attention. It's like covfefe. Trending! Worldwide! Maybe for a minute you'll forget the latest accusation about them transpiring with Russia," she said. "It's the circus, right? It's what a classic authoritarian does."