Trump praised Sean Spicer on his 'Dancing with the Stars' performance, then deleted his tweet when he got eliminated
- Former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer was voted off "Dancing with the Stars" on Monday night after three months of being on the show.
- US President Donald Trump tweeted effusive praise for Spicer during the show and called on his followers to vote for him.
- But after Spicer was eliminated, Trump deleted his initial tweet and replaced it with a new one congratulating Spicer on "a great try."
- Spicer left his White House post in 2017 on ostensibly good terms with Trump.
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US President Donald Trump tweeted effusive praise for former press secretary Sean Spicer's performance on "Dancing with the Stars," then deleted it after Spicer was voted off.
Spicer joined the dance competition in August, and was eliminated on Monday after receiving low scores for weeks. He left his post at the White House in July 2017 on ostensibly good terms with the president.
"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. He is in the quarterfinals - all the way with Sean! #MAGA #KAG."
"MAGA" and "KAG" are acronyms for "Make America Great Again" and "Keep America Great," which are popular Trump campaign slogans.
However, he deleted the tweet around an hour later, near the time Spicer was voted off, ProPublica's Politwoops Twitter-deletion tracker reported.
At 10 p.m. Trump wrote a new tweet that said: "A great try by @seanspicer. We are all proud of you!"
Business Insider was able obtain screenshots of the deleted tweet through various websites that log Trump's deleted tweets.
Spicer appeared unfazed by Trump's deleted tweet, however.
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 in the past, with a frequent reason being spelling mistakes.
But under the 1978 Presidential Records Act, Trump's electronic communication are considered public property and historical records. Experts have been divided over whether Trump legally has the right to 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 Foxtrot and an Argentine tango to a version of Destiny's Child's "Bills, Bills, Bills" - here.