Trump defends his use of social media after angry tweets

President Donald Trump defended his aggressive use of Twitter on Saturday just hours after firing off his latest volley in his escalating feud with US media.

Following an early morning Twitter tirade at CNN, NBC and a morning show host he taunted as "dumb as a rock," the president then went on the defensive, touting his electoral accomplishments as justification for his increasingly hostile rhetoric.

In his latest tweet, Trump tweeted a video of him wrestling with Vince McMahon, Chairman of Capitol Wrestling Corporation back in 2007, replacing McMahon's head with the CNN logo using the hashtag #FraudNewsCNN.

TRT World's Kate Fisher reports from Washington.

In recent days, the US leader has railed against major news organisations as "fake news," and launched a crude personal attack on Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, who headline the Morning Joe programme on the left-leaning MSNBC cable network.

On Saturday, in his attempt to get the final word in his clash with the journalists he wrote:

Apparently stung by critical coverage on the show, Trump on Thursday had tweeted:

Backlash

The comments sparked a major backlash, as well as condemnation from within Trump's own Republican Party.

The TV hosts responded on Friday with an opinion piece in The Washington Post titled "Donald Trump is not well," questioning his "unmoored behavior" and fitness to serve.

There were protests across US for the impeachment of Trump ignited by the video tweet of him wrestling with 'CNN'. He was accused of inciting violence against the media.

Trump targeted CNN again, a frequent punching bag for the president.

Referring to an article that the cable news channel retracted, that claimed Congress was investigating links between Trump's administration and a Russian investment fund, Trump tweeted:

Three CNN journalists resigned over the article, which was posted on the network's website on June 22 before being yanked the next day.

He also suggested in a tweet that veteran ex-Fox journalist Greta Van Susteren, who left MSNBC this week, was fired becaused she refused to "go along with Trump hate."

"Fight fire with fire"

Trump's deputy spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that Trump's attacks on Brzezinski, Scarborough and other media were part of his natural instinct to "fight fire with fire."

On Saturday, those instincts seemed to be on display.

Capping his day of derision, Trump lambasted the press at a Fourth of July "Freedom Rally" in Washington, stating that "the fake media tried to stop us from going to the White House, but I'm president and they're not."

"The dishonest media will never keep us from accomplishing our objectives on behalf of our great American people," he added.

"The fact is, the press has destroyed themselves because they went too far."