President Trump has cast his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in a glowing light and discredit the widely held perception that the day he spent with Putin in Helsinki, Finland, was detrimental to the United States.
Trump wrote in a tweet on Tuesday morning; "while I had a great meeting with NATO, raising vast amounts of money, I had an even better meeting with Vladimir Putin of Russia. Sadly, it is not being reported that way - the Fake News is going Crazy!"
Trump's news conference alongside Putin, where he discounted US intelligence assessments that Russia meddled with the 2016 election, drew fire from members of both political parties, who said he put Russia above US interests.
Last week, Trump met with fellow NATO members, pushing them to increase their spending on defence. In another tweet on Tuesday, he took personal credit for the strength of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, saying it is better funded "only because of me".
He said in the same tweet; "I had a great meeting with NATO, "NATO was weak, but now it is strong again (bad for Russia). The media only says I was rude to leaders, never mentions the money!"
