Donald Trump 'denies calling Tim Cook Tim Apple' despite video footage

US President Donald Trump has denied calling Apple CEO Tim Cook ‘Tim Apple’, despite being filmed doing so.

Mr Trump issued his firm denial on Twitter on Monday in what some have referred to as his ‘weirdest lie yet’ the president told Republican fundraisers on Friday that the story which emerged last Wednesday was “fake news”.

On Monday he 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 president tweeted. “The Fake News was disparagingly all over this, & it became yet another bad Trump story!”

He told the event at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida, that the media were spreading “fake news” when they said he called the CEO of Apple “Tim Apple”.

According to reports Mr Trump claims he said “Tim Cook, Apple” at speed and with a “soft” inflection meaning he wasn’t heard as he said “Cook”.

During the inaugural meeting of the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board in the State Dining Room on Wednesday, Trump referred to Cook as “Tim Apple” as he thanked him for the tech giant’s help in expanding the U.S. economy.

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A day after Trump mistakenly referred to Cook at a White House meeting as “Tim Apple” — an understandable slip, perhaps, coming from the owner of the Trump Organization — Cook quietly altered his Twitter profile , replacing his last name with the Apple logo.

Cook didn’t publicly acknowledge the change, but it didn’t take long for Apple fans to notice and spread the word.

In the official transcript of the meeting , the words “Tim” and “Apple” are separated by a dash as if Trump had paused, possibly to thank both the executive and the company.