Donald Trump sent the Twittersphere into a frenzy early Wednesday morning when, shortly after midnight, he sent a befuddling tweet that read: “Despite the constant negative press covfefe.” It took roughly six hours for the tweet to be deleted, during which time Twitter mused about what “covfefe” meant or what might have caused Trump to fire off a mis-tweet.

Trump, for his part, seemed to get in on the joke. “Who can figure out the true meaning of 'covfefe'??? Enjoy!” he tweeted. But the “covfefe” debate didn’t end there.

Now, the White House is saying that the tweet wasn’t an accident.

When asked by a reporter during the daily White House briefing on Wednesday whether people should be “concerned” about the president’s incoherent nighttime tweet, Press Secretary Sean Spicer might have responded with a joke, or an admission that the president, like everyone, is merely human. Instead he responded with a blunt, humorless “No.”

Further pressed by the reporter as to why the tweet stayed up for hours after it was posted, Spicer offered what was clearly meant to be an assurance that covfefe was not a typo but a deliberate message. “The president and a small group of people know exactly what he meant,” Spicer insisted.

Of course, it is hard to believe that covfefe was anything more than a mistake made by the president’s Twitter-happy, tiny fingers. But if Spicer’s defense is true, it must feel great right now to be part of the select group of Trump associates in on the secret.