Trump defends his use of social media in a series of tweets

US President Donald Trump has defended his use of social media in a series of tweets, following a row over comments he made about two MSNBC TV presenters.
"My use of social media is not presidential - it's modern day presidential," he tweeted on Saturday.
Earlier in the week, the president launched a crude personal attack on Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough.
His tweets were condemned by Democrats and Republicans alike, despite the White House springing to his defence.
Mr Trump's aides have previously expressed concern over his tweets.
But the president said on Saturday that social media gave him the opportunity to connect directly to the public, bypassing the mainstream media, whose content Mr Trump regularly labels as "fake news".

President Donald Trump on Sunday tweeted a

spinoff of him tackling and punching a man with the CNN logo superimposed on his face. CNN’s Brian Stelter

that the video, which was likely tweeted by Trump’s social media director Dan Scavino, apparently came directly from a Reddit thread. Last week, deputy press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders disputed allegations that the president encourages violence. “The president in no way, form or fashion has ever promoted or encouraged violence,” Sanders said on Thursday. The network

to Trump’s tweet via Twitter by quoting Sanders, and followed up later with a

. “It is a sad day when the President of the United States encourages violence against reporters,” the network said. “Clearly, Sarah Huckabee Sanders lied when she said the President had never done so.” The network added that Trump is engaged in “juvenile behavior far below the dignity of his office.”