Donald Trump on his tweets: 'I don't regret anything'

The president said he has 100m followers on social media

Mr Trump has posted around 34,700 tweets since the spring of 2009 (Reuters)

Donald Trump started his intense and colourful relationship with Twitter in March 2009.

Since then, he, or whoever has hold of his account at any one time, has to date published 34,699 tweets. These have included condemnations of a former Venezuelan beauty queen, a slew of attacks on opponents such as Ted Cruz and Hilary, and a claim - denied by congressional investigators and the FBI - that Barack Obama wiretapped him.

Mr Trump is known for his spontaneous, 6am-in-the-morning tweeting, but asked which of those he regretted posting, he said not a single one.

“I have over 100m followers between Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Over 100m. I don’t have to go to the fake media,” he told the Financial Times.

“I don’t regret anything, because there is nothing you can do about it. You know if you issue hundreds of tweets, and every once in a while you have a clinker, that’s not so bad.”

Mr Trump’s impetuous use of Twitter has frequently stirred controversy. The FBI Director, James Comey, said recently there was no evidence to support Mr Trump’s claim that he had been wiretapped by his predecessor.

A few days after delivering a speech to the joint houses of congress, in which he said “the time for trivial fights is behind us”, he used Twitter to mock Arnold Schwarzenegger’s ratings on The Apprentice.

In his first tweet after winning the election, he responded to protests that were taking place across the country, by saying: :”Just had a very open and successful presidential election. Now professional protesters, incited by the media, are protesting. Very unfair.”

Yet, for all of this controversy, Mr Trump knows that many of his supporters like the fact he can communicate his thoughts and passions directly to them.

In an interview with the FT, he added: “Without the tweets, I wouldn’t be here.”