President Donald Trump launched into an aggressive defence of his administration – still in its infancy – that was more suitable for the walls of a surrealist video art exhibit rather than in the East Room of the White House.
The President, reeling from a week of unflattering coverage of a tumultuous Oval Office, accused the political press of deliberately misleading the public about his administration's ties to Russia. He insisted that the leaks coming from his administration were "real", but the news written about them is "fake", motivated by the "hatred" of a "dishonest" media.
"Well the leaks are real. You’re the one that wrote about them and reported them, I mean the leaks are real," he said. "You know what they said, you saw it and the leaks are absolutely real. The news is fake because so much of the news is fake."
The Trump administration is still recovering from the forced resignation of national security adviser Michael Flynn after it was revealed he attempted to cover up conversations he had with the Russian ambassador. But responding to questions about his ties to the Kremlin, Mr Trump insisted that he has no ties to the countries.
"Russia is a ruse. I have nothing to do with Russia. Haven’t made a phone call to Russia in years. Don’t speak to people from Russia. Not that I wouldn’t. I just have nobody to speak to," Mr Trump said.
"I spoke to Putin twice. He called me on the election. I told you this. And he called me on the inauguration, a few days ago," he added, referring to the 28 January phone call. "We had a very good talk, especially the second one, lasted for a pretty long period of time. I’m sure you probably get it because it was classified. So I’m sure everybody in this room perhaps has it. But we had a very, very good talk."
He explained that, when informed about Mr Flynn's contact with the Russian envoy, that he was "doing his job". However, he said he asked Mr Flynn to resign because "didn't tell our Vice President properly" and lied about remembering the content of the call.
"So, either way, it wasn't very satisfactory to me," he said, later adding: "I didn't direct him [to call the diplomat], but I would have directed him because that was his job."
The President also responded to subsequent reports from the New York Times and CNN indicating that Trump campaign staff had constant contact with Russian intelligence officials.
He acknowledged that former Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort had ties to former Ukraine president Viktor Yanukovich, who was notably pro-Russian.
"Now, Manafort has totally denied it. He denied it. Now people knew that he was a consultant over in that part of the world for a while, but not for Russia. I think he represented Ukraine or people having to do with Ukraine, or people that — whoever. But people knew that. Everybody knew that," Mr Trump said.
The President denied any wrongdoing regarding Russia and said that the political press is trying to distract from what “classified information that was given illegally” to reporters.
Mr Trump spoke for more than an hour, airing his grievances about the media, in a press conference originally intended to formally announce his new Labour Secretary nominee, Alexander Acosta. But instead, launched into the disjointed tirade against the newsmedia, as well as Hillary Clinton.
But the President, who has become infamous for his thin-skinned, knee-jerk reactions to negative press coverage, insisted that he could handle a bad story "better than anybody".
"I know when I should get good [coverage] and get bad, and sometimes I’ll say, 'Wow, that’s going to be a great story', and I get killed.
"I know what is good and bad, I’d be a pretty good reporter.”
He added: "There is nobody I have more respect for, well maybe a little bit, than reporters, good reporters. It’s very important to me, especially in this position, it’s very important.
"I don’t mind bad stories, I can handle a bad story better than anybody, as long as it’s true."
The attack on the press channelled Mr Trump's campaign persona, which he has maintained since taking office. During numerous portions of the torrential press conference, Mr Trump touted his electoral college victory – incorrectly saying that it was the largest victory since Ronald Reagan's 489 votes in 1980. When called on the lie, Mr Trump simply said he was reciting information he was given.
Indeed, Mr Trump won the election with 306 electoral votes, to Hillary Clinton's 232, but it was by no means an historic victory, numerically speaking. Even George HW Bush won with 426 electoral votes in 1988.
