Donald Trump tells Sean Hannity ‘my CIA speech was a 10 and everybody loved it’

'I had a standing ovation like you wouldn’t believe. Everybody. And it was such a success'

Fox News host Sean Hannity sent a series of triumphant tweets from the White House: He was back after eight years with an exclusive interview with the President.

There were rapid-fire questions and answers. Mr Trump insisted he was an "environmentalist" and would "protect the environment". He said Isis were like "sneaky, dirty rats" and the US would "win" in the fight. Water boarding was "not pleasant", said Mr Trump, but it was "foolish and naive" to not be prepared to do it.

But even Mr Hannity was not able to divert the President when he got onto his favourite subject: the "dishonest" media.

"These are very hostile people. They are very angry people. They are very dishonest people," he said.

Mr Trump referred to his first official stop as President at the CIA headquarters' memorial wall, where he gave a short speech which mostly focused on his negative relationship with the press.

"I gave the speech that really was a 10, relatively speaking," he said. "I had a standing ovation like you wouldn’t believe. Everybody. And it was such a success.

"I paid great homage to the wall with the stars. I paid great homage. The audience was standing ovation. They were standing from the beginning. They didn’t even sit down."

Former CIA director John Brennan should Mr Trump "should be ashamed" for using a speech at the agency’s headquarters for his "display of self-aggrandisement".

"I didn’t think he was good," Mr Trump told Fox.

He also disputed claims that he had "stacked the audience" and put supporters in the front rows to clap and cheer.

Mr Trump referenced a mistaken news report that his staff had removed the bust of Dr Martin Luther King from the Oval Office, and the reporter apologised the same day for the mistake.

On a tour of the Oval Office with Mr Hannity, he laid his hand on the bust of Dr King and said, "See? Never been moved."

The interview comes after Mr Trump personally called Michael Reynolds, director of the National Park Service, to send him more photos of his Inauguration crowds to prove the media had not reported accurate numbers.

"I had the largest audience in the history of inaugurations," he incorrectly insisted to Mr Hannity. "They try and demean it so much. When you look at the pictures, when I looked out there was a sea of people."

Mr Trump repeatedly claimed he had at least one million people at the event, but experts claimed it was closer to 800,000 and much less than Mr Obama's ceremony in 2009.

His chief strategist Steve Bannon told the New York Times that the media should "keep its mouth shut" following its "humiliation" that Mr Trump won the election.

The duo covered a few more subjects. Madonna was "disgusting" and a "disgrace" for saying she "thought about blowing up the White House" at the women's march. Chicago's gun crime was worse than the Middle East, he said, and "there was no reason for it". Russian President Vladimir Putin did call Mr Trump after the election, and a meeting was being set up so they could "fight Isis together".

Mr Hannity's last question during the interview to Mr Trump was whether he had been changed so far as President on a personal level. His critics had often speculated that Mr Trump might become more "Presidential" once he entered the White House.

"I don't think I've had time to be changed," he replied.