Trump has a long and distinguished record of treating people with respect and dignity.
But in a tweet Friday morning, the president suggested he was “very nice” to a reporter who had just witnessed a nasty exchange with the president.
Trump said in the tweet that he was a fan of “very cool” journalist Charlie Sykes, who was interviewing him in a hotel room at the White House in the aftermath of the weekend shooting in Las Vegas.
“I think I’m very nice to him, because he never, ever bullies anyone,” Trump said.
“He never, EVER bullies anybody.”
The tweet came as the president continues to fight the backlash from his response to the Las Vegas shooting, which left 58 people dead and more than 500 wounded.
It came the same day that he said he is considering an executive order banning Muslim refugees from entering the United States.
The president is still awaiting a decision from the Justice Department on whether to file a lawsuit over the shooting, after the government announced Friday it had not found any evidence to support the claim that the gunman had ties to a terrorist group.
The FBI is investigating whether Trump committed a crime by tweeting his reaction to the shooting.
In a statement released Thursday, the FBI said, “We will continue to pursue all avenues to understand the circumstances surrounding the shooting of 49 people and wounding of more than 533 others at a country music festival in Las Vlas, Nev., which resulted in the deaths of 59 and injured more than 529.”
The statement did not offer details of any criminal investigations into the incident.