WASHINGTON — According to White House press secretary Sean Spicer, the cryptic, now deleted tweet containing the word “covfefe” that President Trump sent in the wee hours of Wednesday morning actually meant something to a select group of people.

“The president and a small group of people know exactly what he meant,” Spicer said after Yahoo News asked about the tweet in a briefing with reporters on Wednesday.

Spicer’s answer prompted widespread laughter and incredulous questions from reporters.

“What does it mean? What is ‘covfefe?’” asked April Ryan of American Urban Radio Networks.

The tweet was posted on Trump’s personal account shortly after midnight on Monday.

“Despite the constant negative press covfefe,” Trump wrote.

As the message went viral, many observers assumed it was a typo in a complaint from Trump about press “coverage” of the administration. The tweet remained online for more than five hours. On Monday morning, it was deleted and Trump posted another message referencing the questionable tweet.

Who can figure out the true meaning of "covfefe" ??? Enjoy! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 31, 2017





Spicer made his comment as Yahoo News asked why the “covfefe” tweet stayed up so long and why no White House staffers intervened as the garbled tweet accumulated more than 127,000 retweets.

Yahoo News also asked Spicer whether “people should be concerned that the president posted somewhat of an incoherent tweet last night and that it then stayed up for hours.”

“No,” Spicer said.

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