There was a lot going on at Trump's first press conference after Democrats took back control of the House of Representatives in the midterms.

Wednesday's press conference in the East Room on Wednesday saw a series of meandering answers that at times veered into outright confrontation with reporters, as when Trump yelled at CNN's Jim Acosta and called him a "rude, terrible person" and called an African-American reporter racist for asking him about white nationalism.

MORE: Trump goes off on CNN's Jim Acosta for defying him at presser

"That's such a racist question," he said three times.

"During this press conference, the president seemed to be time and again attacking journalists of color," Acosta later observed on CNN.

Click through the gallery above to read about more standout moments from the press conference

A bizarre assortment of topics was addressed. Trump broke a long stretch of calling on solely male reporters by asking a female reporter if she was "together" with a neighboring male colleague and told another female reporter to sit down.

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Asked about allegations that he called Lil Jon "Uncle Tom" during filming of The Celebrity Apprentice, he denied knowing who Lil Jon was, even though there is a picture of the two of them together from when Lil Jon was on the show.

"I don't know who Little Jon is," he said.

It wasn't all negative. Trump also had some compliments for Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who appears poised to retake her former role as Speaker of the House. During her victory speech on Tuesday night, Pelosi said the Democrats would strive for bipartisanship when possible, drawing condemnation from some in her own party but warm comments from Trump.

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"She's fought long and hard," he said of Pelosi. "She's a very capable person."

Multiple times throughout the press conference, Trump complained that he couldn't understand questions — in three cases, observers pointed out, the questions were asked by reporters with accents, prompting Trump to respond, "I can't understand you."

After one such exchange, the next reporter to ask a question riffed on it.

"Mr. President, I'm from Brooklyn, so you'll understand me," he said.

"I understand you very well," the president replied.

Filipa Ioannou is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at fioannou@sfchronicle.com and follow her on Twitter