Oops.

The enthusiastic reaction of Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, was understandable on Friday when the Labor Department reported a gain of 235,000 jobs. “Great news for American workers,” he proclaimed on Twitter 22 minutes after the Labor Department release, “in first report for @POTUS Trump.”

Mr. Spicer was probably just following President Trump’s lead. At 8:41 a.m., 11 minutes after the report’s 8:30 release, Mr. Trump reposted a Twitter message sent by the conservative website Drudge Report that linked to a news report with the comment “GREAT AGAIN: +235,000.”

But those messages on Twitter apparently violate a federal rule barring executive branch employees from publicly commenting on principal economic indicators for at least one hour after the official release time.