President Donald Trump, flanked by the nation's key Republican leaders, Saturday morning defended his decision to talk about his mental capability on Twitter, saying that he felt he needed to underscore his credentials and experience in the face of attacks.
"Only because I went to the best colleges or college," Trump responded to a reporter's question, posed during a press appearance at Camp David, where he has been huddled for the past few days with Vice President Mike Pence, House Speaker Paul Ryan, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and several other administration and Republican leaders to work on plans for the GOP agenda.
"I went to a, I had a situation where I was a very excellent student," the president continued. "I came out and made billions and billions of dollars, became one of the top business people. Went to television. And for 10 years was a tremendous success, as you probably have heard. Ran for president one time and won."
Earlier Saturday morning, Trump went on Twitter to rail against questions concerning his mental stability following the publication of the book "Fire and Fury," written about his tenure so far in the White House, and described himself as being "like, really smart," while adding that he is a "very stable genius."
During his press appearance later in the morning, Trump also slammed Michael Wolff, the author of the book "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House " and denied that he'd been interviewed for the bestseller.
"And then I hear this guy that doesn't, does not know me, by the way, does not interview me," said Trump. "Said he interviewed me for three hours in the White House. It didn't exist, okay, it's in his imagination."
He said he has been heartened that even though he talks about "fake news and the fake news media," that "the fact that many of the people that I talk about in terms of fake news actually came to the defense of this great administration and even myself, because they know the author and they know he's a fraud."
He noted that Wolff also wrote about Fox News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch, and that book was a "terrible expose and it was false, so much of it was false."
Trump added that he considers Wolff's book about himself a "work of fiction," and he thinks it's a "disgrace that somebody's able to have something, do something like that."
The president's attorneys have called for the book's publication to be halted, but instead, it was released a few days early to meet buyers' demands, and Trump Saturday complained that the United States' libel laws are "very weak."
"If they were strong, it would be very helpful," said Trump. "You wouldn't have things like that happen where you can say whatever comes to your head."
As for the interview Wolff claims happened, Trump said he "never interviewed with him in the White House at all. He was never in the Oval Office. We didn't have an interview."
"I did a quick interview with him a long time ago, having to do with an article," said Trump. "But I don't know this man. I guess Sloppy Steve [Bannon] brought him into the White House quite a bit and it was one of those things. That's why Sloppy Steve is now looking for a job."
Trump Saturday also took credit for meetings scheduled next week between South Korea and North Korea, and said they would not be happening without his tough stance on North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
"I spoke to the president, as you know, with President Moon [Jae-in] of South Korea," said Trump. "He thanked me very much for my tough stance. You know, for 25 years they haven't been using a tough stance. They've been giving everything."
Trump said when it comes to North Korea, "you have to be prepared to do certain things. I'm totally prepared to do that."
He added that he and Moon had a "great discussion" and he "thanked me very much and I hope it worked out."
Trump said he would like to see North and South Korea work out their differences, and to get "involved in the Olympics and maybe things go from there.
"He actually thanked me," said Trump of Moon. "He said — and a lot of people have said — a lot of people have written that without my rhetoric, without my tough stance — and it's not just a stance. This is what has to be done, if it has to be done. That they wouldn't talking about Olympics. That they wouldn't be talking right now."
Trump also on Saturday complained about a recent story in The New York Times that he had asked the White House counsel to ask Attorney General Jeff Sessions not to recuse himself from the Trump-Russia investigation.
"I guess the collusion now is dead, because everyone found out after a year of study there's been absolutely no collusion," the president said. "There's been no collusion between us and the Russians. Now, there has been collusion between Hillary Clinton, the DNC and the Russians. Unfortunately, you people don't cover that very much. But the only collusion is between Hillary and the Russians and the DNC and the Russians and one of those things."