President Donald Trump on Monday claimed that he called Apple CEO Tim Cook "Tim Apple" at the White House last week as a "way to save time," denying that he made a understandable slip of the tongue.
"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. The Fake News was disparagingly all over this, & it became yet another bad Trump story!" Trump tweeted.
Trump's tweet is the second way in which he denied making a slip of the tongue. According to Axios reporter Jonathon Swan, Trump told a crowd at his Mar-A-Lago estate in Florida that he actually called the CEO "Tim Cook Apple" but said his pronunciation of "Cook" was especially quiet.
Trump made the comment at a meeting of the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board on Wednesday. Trump was applauding Apple for hiring more American workers.
"I mean you've really put a big investment in our country, we appreciate it very much, Tim Apple," Trump said.
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. The Fake News was disparagingly all over this, & it became yet another bad Trump story!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 11, 2019
Cook himself had fun with the comment, when he replaced his last name with the Apple logo on his Twitter profile.