Donald Trump claims he does not watch CNN anymore, after saying he did minutes earlier

Donald Trump claimed he did not watch CNN anymore to avoid negativity, but the journalist interviewing him was ready to counter his claim.

In a most recent interview with the Associated Press in which the President railed against “fake news” and his “unfair treatment” by the media, he claimed he no longer watched CNN.

Journalist Julie Pace responded: “You just said you did”, referring back to an off-the-record exchange which had been cut from the transcript.

The President replied: “No. No, I, if I’m passing it, what did I just say?”

When Ms Pace tried to tell him what he said, Mr Trump asked, “Where? Where?”

She replied: “Two minutes ago.”

Mr Trump instead went on to accuse the “mainstream media” of publishing fake stories about him, and said Fox News was the most accurate.

He also said he no longer watched MSNBC, but his team told him the network “went crazy” when he speculated that a terrorist had carried out the most recent attack in France.

He added that he had a “tremendous advantage” with high viewing figures when he appeared on television, and claimed he received higher ratings that broadcasts of the 9/11 attacks.

The on-the-record sections of the interview were supposed to be about his first 100 days in office, but were mostly focused on Mr Trump’s election campaign, his former rival Hillary Clinton and his relationship with the media.

The AP interview included other worrying elements, including Mr Trump dodging responsibility for any negativity about his administration.

He said his chief of staff, Reince Priebus, was doing an “excellent job” in a “very tough environment, not caused necessarily by me”.

He also insisted that Elijah Cummings, a Democrat and ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, told him during a meeting that he was the “greatest President in history”.

Mr Cummings has repeatedly pushed the committee to investigate Mr Trump.

Lines of investigation include alleged ties to Russia, his involvement of his family within the administration, his potential conflicts of interest and the possible security breach of using his Mar-a-Lago estate as a Winter White House.

In another possible false report in the same AP interview, the President claimed that he had saved more than $600 million when buying about 90 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jets. The number has been disputed.