WASHINGTON �� President Donald Trump declared himself a "very stable genius" Saturday, pushing back against questions about his mental fitness published in a new book.
In a series of Twitter posts, Trump said two of his greatest assets "have been mental stability, and being, like, really smart."
He noted that former Democratic rival Hillary Clinton "played these cards (about competence) very hard and, as everyone knows, went down in flames. I went from VERY successful businessman, to top T.V. Star to President of the United States (on my first try)."
"I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius ... .and a very stable genius at that!"
The book, "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House" by Michael Wolff, presents a damning portrayal of the Trump White House in which many of the president's closest advisers question his intelligence, leadership and maturity even as they stroke his ego with praise and attention.
It casts Trump as a man who didn't really want to win the presidency, doesn't understand the weight of the office and has little grasp of policy details. One aide compared it to "trying to figure out what a child wants," according to the book.
Trump and White House officials have pushed back hard on the book, which quotes senior aides variously describing the president as an "idiot," "dumb" and a "dope."
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders called the book "fiction."
Even before his campaign for president, Trump was known to be sensitive and boastful about his intelligence. In 2013, he said on Twitter: "Sorry losers and haters, but my I.Q. is one of the highest _ and you all know it! Please don't feel stupid or insecure, it's not your fault."
When Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was reported to have privately called Trump a "moron," Trump responded by suggesting that the men compare I.Q. scores. Tillerson has denied questioning Trump's mental fitness.
In his Saturday morning posts, Trump accused Democrats and the "Fake News Mainstream Media" of "taking out the old Ronald Reagan playbook and screaming mental stability and intelligence" now that "Russian collusion, after one year of intense study, has proven to be a total hoax on the American public."
The investigation into the Trump campaign's contacts with Russian officials during the election campaign has continued to press forward. Trump's own former chief strategist Steve Bannon is quoted in the book as saying that one of the meetings between Trump campaign officials and Russians was "treasonous."
Special counsel Robert Mueller is looking at that June 2016 meeting and Trump's claim that the discussion focused on adoption.
