World
Trump launches stinging attack on media
US President Donald Trump has launched a ferocious attack on the media while defending his record during his first weeks in office.BBC
US President Donald Trump has launched a ferocious attack on the media while defending his record during his first weeks in office.
Mr Trump appeared in a 76-minute press conference where he told reporters their level of dishonesty was out of control.
He cited coverage of his campaign's alleged contacts with Moscow.
Critics say his stymied travel ban and the firing of a top adviser point to a White House in chaos.
But the president used his speech to tout his fulfilment of campaign promises, and said his administration was a "fine-tuned machine".
An event that began with Mr Trump announcing his new choice for labour secretary escalated into a blistering attack on the media.
He charged them with downplaying his achievements after he "inherited a mess at home and abroad".
He praised his administration for its "significant progress", pointing to a rising stock market and a crackdown on illegal immigrants as examples of his success.
His news conference at the White House comes after Mr Trump's national security adviser was forced to resign and his labour secretary withdrew his nomination.
Michael Flynn, Mr Trump's national security adviser, resigned on Monday after he misled the Vice-President Mike Pence about whether he discussed US sanctions with Russia's ambassador before his own appointment.
If the allegations are true, he would violate a law barring private citizens from conducting US diplomacy.
When pressed about claims made in the US media that his campaign staff had been in contact with Russian officials during the campaign, Mr Trump replied "nobody that I know of" had done so.
"Russia is fake news. This is fake news put out by the media," he added.
There are cross-party calls for a congressional investigation already looking into Russia's alleged interference in the election to be expanded to include the Michael Flynn affair.
Analysis - Anthony Zurcher, BBC News North America Reporter
At one point during his marathon press conference, ostensibly made to announce his new labour secretary nominee, Donald Trump told reporters how he won the presidency.
"With news conferences and speeches," the president said.
It looks like Mr Trump plans on trying to breathe new life into that winning formula.
He has a big campaign-style rally scheduled for Florida on Saturday, and his news conference on Thursday afternoon was classic campaign-era Trump. He was at turns combative, humorous, defensive and jovial. The president often veered into unfathomable tangents before, at last, settling down into familiar lines and patterns.
He boasted about his electoral win, refused to go into details on any of his foreign policy plans, condemned his media critics, shrugged off fact-checkers and promised nothing but winning results.
The Trump administration has been on its heels of late, facing growing criticism over Michael Flynn's actions before and after becoming national security advisor, an immigration action that has been frozen by the courts and a labour nominee who saw his Senate support evaporate.
Perhaps this is phase one of the Trump presidential reboot - letting Trump be Trump. It's unconventional, but by now that shouldn't be surprising.