Trump defends tweets as ‘modern day presidential’

US President Donald Trump has defended his frequent usage of Twitter in a series of tweets, in the wake of an outcry following his comments against two MSNBC TV presenters.

“My use of social media is not presidential – it’s modern day presidential,” he tweeted on Saturday.

He said that social media allowed him to connect directly to the US public, bypassing the mainstream media, whose content he has often labeled as “fake news”.

“The FAKE & FRAUDULENT NEWS MEDIA is working hard to convince Republicans and others I should not use social media,” he tweeted. “But remember, I wont he 2016 election with interviews, speeches and social media.”

Trump also stepped up his attack on CNN after the US news network was forced to retract an article that one of the president’s aides was under investigation by Congress.

“I am extremely pleased that CNN has finally been exposed as #FakeNews and garbage journalism. It’s about time!”

The CNN story, which was later removed from the website following an internal investigation, resulted in the resignations of three CNN journalists: Thomas Frank, investigative unit editor and Pultizer Prize winner Eric Lictblau and Lex Harris, who oversaw the investigations unit.

Earlier this week, Trump launched a personal attack on MSNBC TV presenters Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, saying that the former has been “bleeding badly from a facelift” when he saw her six months ago and mocking the latter as “psycho Joe”.
The two presenters hit back, accusing Trump of having an “unhealthy obsession” with them and alleging that the White House had tried to blackmail them into apologising for their show’s negative coverage of the president.

Senator Lindsey Graham said that Trump’s comments were “beneath the office” of president, while fellow Republican Ben Sasse said “this isn’t normal and it’s beneath the dignity of your office”.

However, Trump stepped up his attack on Brzezinksi on Saturday, calling her “dumb as a rock”.