Trump Rejects Portrait of Chaotic White House in Attack on Media

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump rejected portrayals of chaos in his administration and claimed "incredible" progress in his first four weeks in office, lashing out at media organizations he said "will not tell you the truth."

Trump opened a snap news conference on Thursday with a 25-minute tirade in which he pointed to the stock market’s performance as evidence of his early accomplishments and said news organizations work "for the special interests and for those profiting off a very, very broken system." The president has faced a slew of reports since the weekend that his administration is reeling over disclosures about Michael Flynn, the former national security adviser Trump dismissed on Monday.

"I’m here today to update the American people on the incredible progress that’s been made the last four weeks since my inauguration," Trump said. "I see stories of chaos. It’s the exact opposite. This administration is running like a fine-tuned machine."

"There’s zero chaos," he said later.

He said that a Rasmussen poll found that he had 55 percent approval -- Gallup’s most recent tracking poll found he had 40 percent support -- and said "the stock market has hit record numbers, as you know."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was at 20,584 as of 1:24 p.m. in New York; it had not hit 20,000 before this year.

"To be honest I inherited a mess," Trump said. "It’s a mess. At home and abroad."

Trump made a number of misstatements. He said for the third time in two days that he had won 306 Electoral College votes in his election. The correct number was 304. He called it "the biggest electoral college win since Ronald Reagan," when in fact his predecessor, Barack Obama, won 332 electoral college votes in 2012 and 365 in 2008.

Asked about the discrepancy, Trump said he meant that he had won the most of any Republican candidate since Reagan. Told that former President George H.W. Bush had won more, Trump said, "I was given that information. I have seen that information around."

He also claimed that "jobs are pouring out of the country." Unemployment was 4.8 percent in January, up a tenth of a percentage point from December, according to the first employment report of Trump’s presidency. Fewer Americans than forecast filed applications for unemployment benefits last week.

To contact the reporters on this story: Toluse Olorunnipa in Washington at tolorunnipa@bloomberg.net, Alex Wayne in Washington at awayne3@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Craig Gordon at cgordon39@bloomberg.net, Alex Wayne, Michael Shepard