On March 6, Apple CEO Tim Cook attended a meeting of the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board alongside President Donald Trump, who introduced Cook by his full name but at one point called him "Tim Apple." | Al Drago/Getty Images White House Trump says he called Apple CEO 'Tim Apple' to 'save time & words'

President Donald Trump on Monday hit back at the media attention he generated last week when he appeared to flub Apple CEO Tim Cook's name, claiming he meant to call the executive "Tim Apple" in order to "save time."

"At a recent round table meeting of business executives, & long after formally introducing Tim Cook of Apple, I quickly referred to Tim + Apple as Tim/Apple as an easy way to save time & words," Trump wrote. "The Fake News was disparagingly all over this, & it became yet another bad Trump story!"


On March 6, Cook attended a meeting of the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board alongside Trump, who introduced Cook by his full name but at one point called him “Tim Apple.”

The following day, after the mistake had garnered significant media attention — including a tweet by “The Daily Show,” later retweeted by Trump’s daughter Ivanka , who was at the meeting seated next to Trump — Cook changed his surname on Twitter to an Apple logo emoji in what many saw as a tongue-in-cheek reference to his new moniker.

Trump similarly flubbed the name of Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson last year, calling her “Marillyn Lockheed.”