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Politics

COVFEFE Act proposed to preserve Trump tweets

June 13, 2017

A US Democratic congressman has proposed an act to preserve the presidential tweets and prevent him from erasing his online missives and other messages. Known as COVFEFE it makes reference to an odd tweet.

https://p.dw.com/p/2eagX
Donald Trump
Image: Picture alliance/AP Photo/P. M. Monsivais

 A Democratic representative introduced a law on Monday to preserve US President Donald Trump's tweets.

"If the president is going to take to social media to make sudden public policy proclamations, we must ensure that these statements are documented and preserved for future reference," said Illinois Democratic Representative Mike Quigley who sponsored the bill.

The bill is known as the "Communications Over Various Feeds Electronically For Engagement" Act, (COVFEFE.) Trump used "covfefe," which does not exist in English, in a tweet which was later deleted. After  confusion over the message, Trump joked about using it.

"Tweets are powerful, and the president must be held accountable for every post," Quigley said.

The act would bar Trump from deleting tweets after publishing them and make deleting tweets a violation of the Presidential Records Act.

Twitter Account US-Präsident Donald Trump
Trump's infamous - since deleted - covfefe tweetImage: twitter.com/realDonaldTrump

The White House did not immediately respond to the proposed act.

Trump commonly goes to Twitter to share his opinions or how he sees certain issues with his more than 32 million followers.  

 

Trump has occasionally deleted tweets, including those with spelling or grammatical errors. Trump's tweets have garnered concern from other members of government.

kbd/jm (AFP, Reuters)