President Donald Trump claimed on Thursday that his top intelligence officials told him their Senate testimony was “totally misquoted” — even though it had aired live on TV. Trump also insisted that these officials applied the “fake news” label to media reports that they had contradicted key presidential warnings about global threats. In fact, the president’s previous assessments of various foreign dangers were dramatically contradicted by leaders of the nation’s intelligence agencies in public testimony Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee. Despite what Trump has said, officials testified that North Korea isn’t likely to give up its nuclear weapons, that the Islamic State has not been defeated and that the Iran nuclear deal is working. National Intelligence Director Dan Coats also said that U.S. national security is threatened by climate change, while Trump thinks that global warming is not real. None of the officials said there was a security crisis at the Mexican border.

JUST IN: Pres. Trump just told reporters that his intelligence chiefs told him their Senate testimony on global threats were "totally misquoted" and "taken out of context" -- despite that testimony airing live on TV. https://t.co/yxejVrJSPs#11MSNBC#11thHourpic.twitter.com/nIkY7dVQxW — 11th Hour (@11thHour) January 31, 2019

Now the president contends that was not their testimony. “They said that they were totally misquoted and ... it was taken out of context. ... They said it was fake news,” he said Thursday. He encouraged reporters to “call them.” (See the video clip above.) When Trump was told that the media “ran exactly” what was said to Congress, he responded, “It didn’t surprise me at all,” apparently referring to his fake news comment. The president later posted a tweet claiming the same thing: that the press “mischaracterized” comments by intelligence officials. He posted a photo of himself meeting with officials and tweeted: “We are very much in agreement on Iran, ISIS, North Korea, etc. Their testimony was distorted.” He said in another tweet that they were “all on the same page.”

Just concluded a great meeting with my Intel team in the Oval Office who told me that what they said on Tuesday at the Senate Hearing was mischaracterized by the media - and we are very much in agreement on Iran, ISIS, North Korea, etc. Their testimony was distorted press.... pic.twitter.com/Zl5aqBmpjF — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 31, 2019

....I would suggest you read the COMPLETE testimony from Tuesday. A false narrative is so bad for our Country. I value our intelligence community. Happily, we had a very good meeting, and we are all on the same page! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 31, 2019

The Senate testimony on Tuesday coincided with the release of the U.S. intelligence community’s latest worldwide threat assessment, which detailed their disagreements with Trump’s world views. On Wednesday, Trump had fired off a series of angry tweets, calling the officials “extremely passive and naive” and saying they should “go back to school.” Many people reading Trump’s Thursday tweets — including former federal ethics chief Walter Shaub — were stunned that the president would claim that testimony everyone could watch on TV was somehow distorted.

The media “mischaracterized” their words by transmitting the testimony through live video into the homes of Americans who watched the hearing on television? — Walter Shaub (@waltshaub) January 31, 2019

The Senate hearing was public and we all saw the intelligence chiefs say, among other things, that Iran is still complying with the terms of the JCPOA despite the fact that Trump broke America’s word on it and North Korea is still pursuing nuclear weapons in defiance of Trump. — Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) January 31, 2019

Blaming the media on this doesn’t make any sense because we all could literally see the intelligence chiefs speak on live TV. These are their own words. Blame the media for televising your own administration? — Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) January 31, 2019