Donald Trump is 'having a good time' – 5 key moments from his latest combative press conference
US president dismissed concerns over tumultuous start to his adminstration, offering an alternative narrative.
President Donald Trump declared he was "having a good time" at a combative press conference on Thursday (16 February) where he defended his administration saying it "is running like a fine-tuned machine".
Yet during nearly a month in office Trump's administration has seen the president's closest national security adviser resign after a series of leaks revealing he misled the vice president, federal legal fights over the constitutionality of an executive order, confrontations with US allies such as Australia, and investigations into the Trump campaign's contacts with Russian officials.
Trump took on the press, blaming the media for the "tone" of their coverage in the more than hour-long impromptu press conference. "I turn on the TV, open the newspapers, and I see stories of chaos. Chaos. Yet, it is the exact opposite," Trump said.
We've picked out five key moments from the press conference.
A fine-tuned machine, mild turbulence or complete chaos?
For 77 minutes Trump's performance was a microcosm of his tenure as Commander in Chief, as he flipped from topic to topic, answering questions from 17 reporters.
He has seen widespread domestic and international protests, an ill-conceived travel ban order received numerous legal challenges, and his labour secretary nominee's withdrawal from the race, among others hiccups. This is how the president sees it all.
Trump: "I turn on the TV, open the newspapers, and I see stories of chaos. Chaos. Yet, it is the exact opposite. This administration is running like a fine-tuned machine, despite the fact that I can't get my Cabinet approved."
Rise in anti-Semitic attacks
Trump was asked by a Jewish reporter about reports of a series of 48 bomb threats that have been called into Jewish community centres across the United States. Instead of addressing how he would combat the issue, Trump told the reporter who asked the question to "sit down" and that it was too complex.
Trump: He said he was gonna ask a very simple, easy question. And it's not, it's not, not — not a simple question, not a fair question. OK sit down, I understand the rest of your question.
So here's the story, folks. Number one, I am the least anti-Semitic person that you've ever seen in your entire life. Number two, racism, the least racist person. In fact, we did very well relative to other people running as a Republican — quiet, quiet, quiet.
See, he lied about — he was gonna get up and ask a very straight, simple question, so you know, welcome to the world of the media. But let me just tell you something, that I hate the charge, I find it repulsive.
I hate even the question because people that know me and you heard the prime minister, you heard Ben Netanyahu (ph) yesterday, did you hear him, Bibi? He said, I've known Donald Trump for a long time and then he said, forget it.
So you should take that instead of having to get up and ask a very insulting question like that.
Donald Trump malfunctions as he talks about uranium
When Trump was asked for some reassurance about news that his campaign had repeated contacts with Russian officials in the year before the election. Trump responded by delivering an error-ridden talking point that Hillary Clinton gave Russia 20% of America's uranium stockpiles.
Trump: We had Hillary Clinton give Russia 20% of the uranium in our country. You know what uranium is, right? This thing called nuclear weapons like lots of things are done with uranium including some bad things.
Nobody talks about that. I didn't do anything for Russia. I've done nothing for Russia. Hillary Clinton gave them 20% of our uranium. Hillary Clinton did a reset, remember? With the stupid plastic button that made us all look like a bunch of jerks. Here, take a look. He looked at her like, what the hell is she doing with that cheap plastic button?
Hillary Clinton - that was the reset, remember it said reset? Now if I do that, oh, I'm a bad guy. If we could get along with Russia, that's a positive thing. We have a very talented man, Rex Tillerson, who's going to be meeting with them shortly and I told him. I said "I know politically it's probably not good for me." The greatest thing I could do is shoot that ship that's 30 miles off shore right out of the water.
Trump falsely claims he had biggest Electoral College win since Reagan
During the press conference Trump repeated long-running claims that he had the "biggest electoral college win since Ronald Reagan" by gaining 306 votes to Hillary Clinton's 270.
Reporter Peter Alexander of NBC News took the president to task on this false claim in a question to Trump.
Alexander: You said today that you had the biggest electoral margin since Ronald Reagan. 304, 306 electoral votes. In fact, President Obama got 365 in 2008-
Trump: Well, I'm talking about Republicans.
Alexander: President Obama 333, George HW Bush 426 when he won. So why should Americans trust-
Trump: I was given that information, I was just-given it, we had a very, very big margin-
Alexander: I guess the question is, why should Americans trust you when you accuse the information they receive as being fake when you're providing information that is not accurate?
Trump: Well, I was given that information. I was, actually I've seen that information around. But it was a very substantial victory, do you agree with that?
Alexander: You're the president.
Trump takes on the BBC
The unpredictability of a Trump news conference was perhaps best typified by his exchange with the BBC's North America editor, Jon Sopel.
Trump looked to extend his continuing feud with CNN – who he has famously branded as "fake news" on a number of occasions – to another media mammoth.
This time, it was with the BBC and Sopel who questioned the president on his temporary travel ban on seven Muslim-majority nations. Afterward Sopel described the whole event as "quite the most extraordinary news conference I have attended".
Sopel: Could I just ask you, thank you very much, Mr President. The trouble...
Trump: Where are you from?
Sopel: BBC.
Trump: Here's another beauty.
Sopel: That's a good line. Impartial, free and fair.
Trump: Yeah. Sure.
Sopel: Mr President...
Trump: Just like CNN right?
Sopel: On the travel ban – we could banter back and forth. On the travel ban would you accept that that was a good example of the smooth running of government...
Trump: Yeah, I do. I do. Let me tell you about this government...
Sopel: Were there any mistakes...
Trump: Wait. Wait. I know who you are. Just wait. Let me tell you about the travel ban. We had a very smooth rollout of the travel ban. But we had a bad court. Got a bad decision...
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