Eliza Collins

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Donald Trump kicked off his third straight weekend at his private golf club in Florida — which he called “The Southern White House” — seeking Saturday to calm reports of turmoil within his administration.

The assertion that the Obama administration left behind chaos began earlier this week during a sprawling press conference where Trump repeatedly said he “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,” Trump said Thursday at the White House. “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.”

While Trump had inherited a complex situation abroad, domestically the Obama administration passed on a stable economy. In the year before Trump took office the economy added more than 2 million jobs. Jobs have been growing for 75 straight months — a record.

Trump’s assertion that all is calm within his administration follows a week in which his national security adviser, Michael Flynn, was forced to resign for misleading Vice President Pence over conversations he had with the Russian ambassador before Trump took office. Democrats are now calling for an independent investigation.

The New York Times also reported this week that there had been repeated contact between members of Trump’s campaign team and Russian intelligence officials.

Trump has called the reports “fake news” but has also vowed to crack down on what he calls leaking of classified material. He called for the Justice Department to investigate where the leaks were coming from.

In another Saturday morning Tweet, Trump announced “many meetings at The Southern White House.”

The characterization got some blow-back on Twitter. During the civil war there was also a White House of the Confederacy where Confederate President Jefferson Davis lived. Others pointed to the fact that the private club owned by Trump's family was different than the White House, which is owned by taxpayers.

Trump's Saturday schedule provided to reporters does not show any activities until he is set to leave for Melbourne, Fla., at 4:30 p.m. for a rally.

Read more:

Venturing beyond the Beltway, Trump visits Boeing in South Carolina

Analysis: Trump's press conference was a spectacle for the ages