Perhaps he’s motivated to keep friendly relations on the eve of a state visit. Or maybe it’s just upping the degree of difficulty in his observable truth evasion floor routine. Whatever the case, President Trump took to Twitter Sunday to urge his followers to reject the evidence of their eyes and ears: that quote referring to the Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, as “nasty?” Never happened. Please ignore the actual audio tape of it happening.

Trump tweeted Sunday that his recent interview with The Sun was “Made up by the fake news media,” and that “I never called Meghan Markle ‘nasty.’” The moment in question saw Trump responding to Markle’s 2016 Nightly Show comments that he was “divisive” and “misogynist,” with Trump claiming that he hadn’t heard her interview before now. “I didn’t know that,” Trump stated in response to the interviewer’s prodding. “What can I say? I didn’t know that she was nasty.”

Of course, “nasty” is one of Trump’s go-to descriptions for women who challenge him—having used it to describe Hillary Clinton, Kamala Harris, San Juan mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz and others. The interview is otherwise largely uncritical of Markle—and features Trump wishing the “American princess” well with new baby Archie Harrison—but the White House nonetheless spun into damage control mode. A “Trump War Room” Twitter account run by his 2020 campaign insisted—incredibly—the “nasty” remark was somehow “Fake News,” despite it appearing in both audio, and their own transcription.

There’s an argument to be made that Trump’s defenders are trying to separate his views of Markle’s comments from his views of her personally, but it is otherwise unclear exactly what anyone is attempting to deny. Equally baffling is Trump’s claim the remarks were “Made up by the Fake News Media, and they got caught cold!” Who was caught? By whom were they caught? In what sense was anyone “caught”?

Naturally, Twitter had a field day with the Trump War Room account twice-posting the exact quote they attemped to deny.

Trump and Co. are otherwise preparing to embark on a three-day state visit to the United Kingdom, though Markle herself was never scheduled to be in attendance. The visit will feature Trump and First Lady Melania Trump getting a Buckingham Palace welcome in London by Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles, and his wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, before the Queen hosts a private lunch. Markle’s husband, Prince Harry, is also reported to join the lunch.