Trump praised Sean Spicer on his 'Dancing With the Stars' performance, then deleted his tweet when he got eliminated

sean spicer trump
sean spicer trump

Dancing with the Stars/YouTube; Win McNamee/Getty Images

  • Sean Spicer, the former White House press secretary, was voted off "Dancing With the Stars" on Monday night after three months on the show.

  • President Donald Trump tweeted effusive praise for Spicer during Monday's show and called on his followers to vote for him.

  • But after Spicer was eliminated, Trump deleted his initial tweet and replaced it with one congratulating Spicer on "a great try."

  • Spicer left his White House post in 2017, ostensibly on good terms with Trump.

  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

President Donald Trump tweeted effusive praise for his former press secretary Sean Spicer's performance on "Dancing With the Stars," then deleted the tweet after Spicer was voted off.

Spicer, who joined the dance competition in August, was eliminated on Monday after weeks of low scores. He left his White House post in July 2017, ostensibly on good terms with the president.

sean spicer dancing with the stars
sean spicer dancing with the stars

Dancing With The Stars/YouTube

"Vote for Sean Spicer on Dancing with the Stars," the president tweeted at 8:33 p.m., about half an hour into the show.

"He is a great and very loyal guy who is working very hard," Trump said. "He is in the quarterfinals — all the way with Sean! #MAGA #KAG."

MAGA and KAG are acronyms for his campaign slogans "Make America Great Again" and "Keep America Great."

He deleted the tweet about an hour later, near the time Spicer was voted off, according to ProPublica's Politwoops tweet-deletion tracker.

Around 10 p.m., Trump posted a new tweet that said: "A great try by @seanspicer. We are all proud of you!"

Business Insider obtained screenshots of the deleted tweet through various websites that log Trump's deleted tweets.

trump spicer deleted tweet
trump spicer deleted tweet

Twitter

Spicer appeared unfazed by Trump's deleted tweet.

The former press secretary tweeted in response to Trump's new, less effusive tweet: "Thank you @POTUS @realDonaldTrump I can't begin to express how much your continued support has meant, especially during my time on @DancingABC."

Trump has regularly deleted tweets from his personal @realDonaldTrump account, frequently because of spelling mistakes.

But under the 1978 Presidential Records Act, Trump's electronic communication is considered public property and historical record. Experts have been divided over whether Trump can legally delete tweets, because though he is the president, the posts were from his personal account.

You can watch a video of Spicer's final performance on the show — a fox trot and an Argentine tango to a version of Destiny's Child's "Bills, Bills, Bills" — here.

NOW WATCH: Extremists turned a frog meme into a hate symbol, but Hong Kong protesters revived it as an emblem of hope