White House press secretary Sean Spicer reopened his propaganda playbook on Tuesday, telling reporters that President Donald Trump’s executive order blocking entry to the U.S. for refugees, visitors, and green card holders from majority-Muslim countries was “not a travel ban.”

“It’s not a Muslim ban. It’s not a travel ban,” Spicer told reporters in a heated, Orwellian exchange. “It’s a vetting system to keep America safe.”

The order, signed last Friday, blocks Syrian refugees from entering the U.S. indefinitely and puts a temporary hold on travelers from Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, and Sudan.

Its immediate implementation saw dozens of individuals being detained at airports across the country over the weekend, prompting widespread, ongoing protests and legal actions that secured an 11th-hour victory for civil liberties lawyers when federal judges in four states temporarily blocked parts or all of the order.

Spicer’s comments on Tuesday prompted a flurry of questions from journalists, who pointed to Trump’s own tweets referring to the order as a ban. Spicer blamed that on the press, claiming that the president had only used the term to reference the media’s adopted frame.

“He’s using the words that the media is using,” Spicer said, as another reporter shouted back, “It’s his words!”

NBC News White House correspondent Kristen Welker said, “The president himself called it a ban.”