Press conference covers issues ranging from Russia to travel ban

President Trump gave his version of a series of national and international issues in the news:

• On his firing of National Security Adviser Mike Flynn after independent talks with Russia’s ambassador:

“Mike was doing his job. He was calling countries and his counterparts. ... I didn’t direct him but I would have directed him because that’s his job.”

• On his Electoral College vote tally:

“I wasn’t supposed to get 222. ... We got 306 because people came out and voted like they’ve never seen it before. ... I guess it was the biggest Electoral College win since Ronald Reagan.” When challenged on that claim, he added, “Well, I don’t know, I was given that information.” • On Russia: “Does anyone think Hillary Clinton would be tougher on Russia than Donald Trump? Does anybody in the room really believe that? OK? ... She had the reset. She gave all that valuable uranium away. ... You know what I gave Russia? You know what I gave? Nothing. ... The greatest thing I could do is shoot that ship that’s 30 miles offshore. Everybody in this country is going to say ‘Oh, it’s so great.’ That’s not great. That’s not great. I would love to be able to get along with Russia.”

• On the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision against Trump’s ban on some Mideast travelers:

“We had a very smooth rollout of the travel ban. But we had a bad court ... that’s been overturned ... I think it’s 80 percent of the time, a lot.”