'COVFEFE Act' Introduced To Preserve Trump Tweets

CHICAGO, IL — Less than two weeks after President Donald Trump coined the term covfefe in a cryptic late-night tweet, the C.O.V.F.E.F.E. Act has been introduced by a Congressional Democrat, as U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, who represents Illinois' 5th District, introduced the Communications Over Various Feeds Electronically for Engagement Act Monday.

“In order to maintain public trust in government, elected officials must answer for what they do and say; this includes 140-character tweets,” Quigley said.

The bill makes a slight change to the law governing what presidential materials are required to be turned over to the National Archives by amending the Presidential Records Act to include the term “social media” as one of the forms of documentary material that must be retained.

"President Trump’s frequent, unfiltered use of his personal Twitter account as a means of official communication is unprecedented," Quigley said. "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."

Quigley's office said the legislation aims to preserve all presidential statements and communications while also promoting government accountability and transparency. Announcing the bill, Quigley's office pointed out that White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said publicly that tweets "are considered official statements by the President of the United States.”

It is not currently clear under the law whether or not tweets from the president's personal account, @RealDonaldTrump, would be archived in the same way as those from the official @POTUS account, Quigley's office said.

"Tweets are powerful, and the President must be held accountable for every post,” said Quigley, who is co-chairman and a founder of the Congressional Transparency Caucus.

So what about deleted tweets?

If the bill passes and social media gets incorporated in the language of the Presidential Records Act, deleted tweets would be documented for archival purposes. Plus, deleting tweets would be a violation of the act that could lead to possible disciplinary action, according to Quigley's office.

In March, Quigley introduced another bill targeting transparency in the Trump Administration, also featuring an acerbic acronym: the Making Access Records Available to Lead American Government Openness (or MAR-A-LAGO) Act. That bill would require visitor logs to the White House or any other location where Trump regularly conducts official business, including various Trump Organization properties, to be released.

Neither bill has any Republican co-sponsors.

Image via Office of Congressman Mike Quigley