President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference Thursday in the East Room of the White House. —Andrew Harnik / AP

President Donald Trump opened his Thursday news conference with an announcement that Alexander Acosta, the dean of the Florida International University law school, is his new nominee for labor secretary. Trump then launched into a vigorous defense of his presidency, declaring that: ‘‘We have made incredible progress. I don’t think there’s ever been a president elected who in this short period of time has done what we’ve done.’’

More quotes from Trump’s news conference:

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Pres. Trump: "To be honest, I inherited a mess. It's a mess, at home and abroad, a mess. Jobs are pouring out of the country." pic.twitter.com/Hh1YvKFmc2 — ABC News (@ABC) February 16, 2017

‘‘As you know, our administration inherited many problems across government and across the economy. To be honest, I inherited a mess. It’s a mess. At home and abroad, a mess. Jobs are pouring out of the country; you see what’s going on with all of the companies leaving our country, going to Mexico and other places, low pay, low wages, mass instability overseas, no matter where you look. The Middle East is a disaster. North Korea — we’ll take care of it folks; we’re going to take care of it all. I just want to let you know, I inherited a mess.’’


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‘‘If Russia and the United States actually got together and got along — and don’t forget, we’re a very powerful nuclear country and so are they. There’s no up-side. We’re a very powerful nuclear country and so are they. I have been briefed. And I can tell you one thing about a briefing that we’re allowed to say because anybody that ever read the most basic book can say it, nuclear holocaust would be like no other.’’

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‘‘(Former National Security Adviser) Mike Flynn is a fine person, and I asked for his resignation. He respectfully gave it. He is a man who there was a certain amount of information given to Vice President Pence, who is with us today. And I was not happy with the way that information was given. He didn’t have to do that, because what he did wasn’t wrong — what he did in terms of the information he saw. What was wrong was the way that other people, including yourselves in this room, were given that information, because that was classified information that was given illegally. That’s the real problem.’’

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Pres. Trump on Flynn: "I fired him because of what he said to Mike Pence. He was doing his job." https://t.co/g01PxZlQZz — NBC News (@NBCNews) February 16, 2017

‘‘I fired him because of what he said to Mike Pence. Very simple. Mike was doing his job. He was calling countries and his counterparts. So, it certainly would have been OK with me if he did it. I would have directed him to do it if I thought he wasn’t doing it. I didn’t direct him, but I would have directed him because that’s his job.’’


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Pres. Trump to the press: "If you were straight, I would be your biggest booster. I would be your biggest fan in the world." pic.twitter.com/bSsL3wmhUP — ABC News (@ABC) February 16, 2017

‘‘Look, I want to see an honest press. … But if you were straight, I would be your biggest booster. I would be your biggest fan in the world, including bad stories about me. But if you go — as an example, you’re CNN, I mean it’s story after story after story is bad. I won. I won. And the other thing, chaos because zero chaos. We are running — this is a fine-tuned machine and (chief of staff) Reince (Priebus) happens to be doing a good job, but half of his job is putting out lies by the press.’’

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Pres. Trump: "The press has become so dishonest that if we don't talk about it we are doing a tremendous disservice to the American people." pic.twitter.com/xog8MY6L6X — ABC News (@ABC) February 16, 2017

‘‘Much of the media in Washington, D.C., along with New York, Los Angeles in particular, speaks not for the people, but for the special interests and for those profiting off a very, very obviously broken system. The press has become so dishonest that if we don’t talk about, we are doing a tremendous disservice to the American people. Tremendous disservice. We have to talk to find out what’s going on, because the press honestly is out of control. The level of dishonesty is out of control.’’