Trump rarely speaks to press upon returning to DC. Can't recall when he ever has. But he did tonight in the dark to vigorously deny the Atlantic story. "I would be willing to swear on anything that I never said that about our fallen heroes...What animal would say such a thing?”

On McCain: "He had a first class, triple-A funeral — that lasted for 9 days by the way. I had to approve it. All of that had to be approved. And I approved it without hesitation and without complaint. I felt he deserved it.”

On canceling the visit to the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery: "The reason it couldn’t fly because it was raining about as hard as I’ve ever seen. And on top of that it was very, very foggy...And the Secret Service told me you can’t...There was no way I would have been able to."

"Probably it's a couple of people that have been failures in the administration that I got rid of," Trump says. "And I couldn't get rid of them fast enough. Or it was just made up...There's not much more I can say. All they're trying to do is influence a presidential election."