US President Donald Trump sought to mend fences with the CIA today, telling officers he had their back after he criticised spy agencies for their investigation into Russian hacking.
Meanwhile, he accused the media of downplaying the turnout at his inauguration by focusing on empty spots on Washington's National Mall, insisting against all evidence that he drew 1.5 million people.
In his first official visit to a government agency as president, Mr Trump - who had said US intelligence tactics were reminiscent of Nazi Germany - sought to leave no doubt with CIA officers that he supported their work.
"Very, very few people could do the job you people do and I want you to know I am so behind you," Mr Trump said, to cheers and loud applause.
Ahead of the speech, some analysts said it would take more than a quick visit for Mr Trump, who engaged in an unprecedented feud with the CIA and other US intelligence agencies before his inauguration, to patch up relations with a community he denigrated.
Mr Trump harshly criticised intelligence officials after they concluded that Russian President Vladimir Putin directed hackers to breach Democratic emails to try to boost Mr Trump's presidential election campaign.
Then, after leaks about an unsubstantiated dossier compiled by a private security firm suggesting Moscow had compromising information about him, Mr Trump blamed intelligence agencies for using Nazi-like tactics.
Mr Trump made no mention of Russia during his off-the-cuff remarks, which lasted about 15 minutes.
He said the feud with intelligence agencies was made up by the media, and he called reporters "among the most dishonest human beings on earth".
Meanwhile across the city, hundreds of thousands of supporters of women's rights marched in protest at Mr Trump.
The organisers said they want to send a bold message to Mr Trump that women's rights need defending.
Mr Trump also took issue with television shots and still photos of crowds that had gathered for his inauguration yesterday on the National Mall, suggesting that they were misleading and showed fewer people present than were actually in attendance.
"I made a speech. I looked out, the field was, it looked like a million, million and a half people," he told CIA staff during the visit to the agency's headquarters.
"They showed a field where there were practically nobody standing there. And they said, Donald Trump did not draw well," he added.
Mr Trump said one network estimated turnout at 250,000.
"Now, that's not bad. But it's a lie," Mr Trump said. He insisted there were people stretching from the steps of the Capitol, where he spoke, along 20 blocks back to the Washington Monument.
"So we caught them and we caught them in a beauty and I think they're going to pay a big price," said Mr Trump.
Washington city authorities do not provide official crowd counts but TV footage clearly showed the crowd did not in fact stretch all the way to the Washington Monument and aerial photos indicate that turnout yesterday was significantly smaller than during Barack Obama's second inauguration, in 2013.
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