Trump visits CIA, slams media during first day in office

As protesters took over major cities across the nation, President Donald Trump began his presidency with a visit to church and to the CIA headquarters where he talked about terrorism, his performance at the inauguration, and even took time to blast the media. 

President Donald Trump began his first full day as commander-in-chief at a national prayer service, at the Washington National Cathedral.  He was joined by first lady Melania Trump and the rest of the family. Vice President Mike Pence and his wife were also present.

The interfaith service has been a tradition for new presidents.

After church, Trump went to the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, where he delivered remarks to about 400 CIA employees and told them they were really special and amazing people.

"Many few people can do the job you do. I am so behind you. I know sometimes you haven't gotten the backing that you wanted and you’re going to get so much backing," he said.

He said his decision to visit the CIA first was to prove the media wrong. Trump has sharply criticized top U.S. Intelligence officials over their conclusions that Russia interfered in the 2016 election on his behalf, as well as over leaks about classified briefings he received in the weeks before he was sworn into office on Friday. However, he denied all that.

"As you know, I have a running war with the media. They are among the most dishonest human beings on earth. They sort of made it sound like I had a feud with the intelligence community, and I just want to let you know, the reason you're the number one stop, it's exactly the opposite and they understand that too," he explained.

The president quickly shifted from praising the CIA to criticizing the media and their coverage during Inauguration Day.  He told the crowd that the media was lying about the number of people who turned out to see him become the 45th president.

"We had what looked like a million and a half people, whatever it was, but it went all the way back to the Washington Monument. I turned on the TV, and it showed an empty field, and it said we drew 250,000 people,” said the President.

At the CIA headquarters, President Donald Trump also spoke about ISIS and said, "We have to get rid of ISIS. We have to get rid of ISIS. We have no choice. Radical Islamic terrorism."