Trump: Media wants a war with Russia

US President Donald Trump claimed today the media "wants" the US to be in a "major confrontation with Russia", as he tried defend his summit meeting with Russian counterpart Valdimir Putin.

He called the "fake news media" the "real enemy of the people", saying that the summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week was "a great success".

Trump's tweet comes on the heels of his clarifications of statements regarding Russia and election meddling and following his widely-panned press conference with Putin in Helsinki.

His comments came amidst an uproar in the US media and his political opponents that he showed signs of weakness in his press conference with Putin in Helsinki on Monday in which he appeared to accept Putin's denial on Russia's US election meddling over the assessment of the American intelligence community.

By Tuesday, Trump was forced to take the rare step of admitting a mistake, telling reporters that when he said, "I don't see any reason why it would be Russia behind the cyberattacks, he had meant to say 'wouldn't."
"They are pushing so recklessly hard and hate the fact that I'll probably have a good relationship with Putin. We are doing much better than any other country!"