President Donald Trump has lashed out at the media for its "fake news" coverage of his press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, commenting that the press didn't cover his closed-door meeting with the leader.
Speaking following a backlash over comments he made about Russia's election meddling, in which he appeared to suggest he believed Putin over the information of his own intelligence agencies, Trump complained that media reports had got things wrong.
In an interview with CBS News, it was pointed out to the president that the press had merely covered what Trump himself said at the press conference and afterward, to which he replied: "They didn't cover my meeting, the important thing frankly was the meeting."
The press was, of course, not invited to the president's private meeting with Putin.
Addressing the backlash from the press conference, Trump suggested it had gone extremely well and that the issue had been blown out of proportion by the media.
"I don't know what the fuss is all about. I think we did extremely well. I think the press makes up—look it's fake news that people understand," he told CBS host Jeff Glor.
"I think the press largely makes up a lot of the fuss about a lot of things. And I'm not talking about one of it I'm talking about everything, it's crazy. You do something that's positive, and they try and make it as negative as possible," he added.
On Tuesday the president walked back comments he made about his meeting with Putin, which prompted criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike.
"They say it's Russia. I have President Putin. He just said it's not Russia," Trump told reporters on Monday.
"I will say this: I don't see any reason why it would be…. I have great confidence in my intelligence people, but I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today."
Pres. Trump says he misspoke at yesterday's joint presser with Vladimir Putin, meant to say there was no reason "it wouldn't be Russia" behind election meddling.
— ABC News Politics (@ABCPolitics) July 17, 2018
"I said the word would instead of wouldn't...I think that probably clarifies things pretty good by itself." pic.twitter.com/BO93vdvoQP
But on Tuesday, the president said he had misspoken when he said: "I don't see any reason why it would be," claiming he had used the wrong word by accident.
"I said the word would instead of wouldn't...I think that probably clarifies things pretty good by itself," he said.
However, since then the president has defended his press conference on Twitter and in subsequent interviews, suggesting it went well.
