President Trump defended his use of social media to a half-dozen Republican lawmakers at a private White House dinner Tuesday night.

Trump's tweets have irked Republican lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, during his time in office, but it appears he's not planning to stop any time soon, lawmakers said.

"He definitely believes that the tweets are an important, valuable tool to be able to get out his message over and through mediums where there might be another narrative that is out there that might be a different perspective than what he is trying to get out on policy or position," said Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., who was among the dinner guests.

A poll released Wednesday morning showed 69 percent of voters believe Trump tweets too much and the president is hurting his own administration by using the social media network.

Zeldin and Sens. Marco Rubio,R-Fla., Tom Cotton, R-Ark., Todd Young, R-Ind., and Cory Gardner, R-Colo., as well Rep. Francis Rooney, R-Fla., met with Trump to talk about foreign policy while dining on ravioli and beef tenderloin.

They talked about sanctions against Iran, but not much about Russian sanctions, Zeldin, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said.

Trump raised the issue of his prolific use of Twitter, not the lawmakers.

"He wasn't on-his-heels defensive," Zeldin said. "He was talking about it being valuable, the amount of people through social media who are reading what he puts out ... and how it gives him an opportunity to get his thoughts out."

Trump's presidential Twitter account has 18.6 million followers, while his personal Twitter account has nearly 32 million followers.