President Trump said Tuesday that not only was his meeting with Vladimir Putin great - it was 'even better' than one he had a few days prior with America's security alliance.

As he weathered heavy criticism on Tuesday for fawning over the strongman who the U.S. intelligence community says was behind 2016 hacking, Trump declared victory in his Helsinki and NATO summits.

He settled on a regular target for characterizing his Putin presser as anything less than a success -- the media.

'While I had a great meeting with NATO, raising vast amounts of money, I had an even better meeting with Vladimir Putin of Russia. Sadly, it is not being reported that way - the Fake News is going Crazy!' he said.

President Trump said Tuesday that not only was his meeting with Vladimir Putin great - it was better than one he had a few days prior with America's security alliance

As he weathered heavy criticism on Tuesday for fawning over the strongman who the U.S. intelligence community says was behind 2016 hacking, Trump declared victory in his Helsinki summit

The usual suspects had torn into the president for complimenting Putin and siding against U.S. intelligence officers in their assessment that the Kremlin ordered the 2016 election disruption, but so had prominent hosts on Fox News

The usual suspects had torn into the president for complimenting Putin and siding against U.S. intelligence officers in their assessment that the Kremlin ordered the 2016 election disruption.

But Trump was also taking fire from Fox News hosts, including Shep Smith and Neil Cavuto, and members of his inner circle like Anthony Scaramucci and Newt Gingrich.

Former CIA director John Brennan had blasted Trump's press conference with Putin on Monday as 'nothing short of treasonous' in high profile remarks, as well.

He accused the president of being 'wholly in the pocket of Putin' and the presser 'rises to & exceeds the threshold of 'high crimes & misdemeanors.'

'It was nothing short of treasonous. Not only were Trump's comments imbecilic, he is wholly in the pocket of Putin. Republican Patriots: Where are you???,' said Brennan, who served as the nation's intelligence chief when the meddling was occurring during the presidency of Barack Obama.

Trump told Tucker Carlson in a Fox News interview airing Tuesday that was taped after the comment: 'I think Brennan is a very bad guy, and if you look at it, a lot of things happened under his watch.

'I think he's a very bad person,' the president contended.

Republican Sen. John McCain also labeled Trump's press conference 'one of the most disgraceful performances by an American president in history,' and House speaker Paul Ryan said, 'Russia is not our ally.'

Nancy Pelosi, the House minority leader, tweeted: 'What do the Russians have on @realDonaldTrump personally, financially, & politically?'

GOP Sen. Ben Sasse said Tuesday on Fox, 'This isn't complicated' and there is 'no moral equivalency' between the Untied States and Russia.

'Putin is a thug and he attacked America,' he said. 'Man, we were weak yesterday on the global stage.'

Sasse called Trump's public comments about Putin 'goofy' and 'bizarre' at the news conference where the Russian leader awarded Trump the World Cup championship game ball.

Even his former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci was advising Trump on Tuesday to 'reverse course'

Trump roundly blamed the media for the failure of his summit, arguing that it was the 'fake news' that was blowing him up.

Yet even his former White House communications director, Scaramucci, was advising him to 'reverse course immediately' and correct what he characterized on CNN as a 'major mistake.'

He added: 'This is not a mistake of words, by the way, this is not a bad PR kerfuffle. This is a mistake of strategy and execution. This is a mistake of thinking.'

'The President is conflating the two issues. He's tying the collusion accusation to the irrefutable evidence that the Russians meddled in the election,' the ex-Trump said.

Scaramucci said Trump has 'got to knock it off,' or else 'unnatural alliances will build up in Washington and outside of Washington.'

On 'Fox & Friends,' the influential morning show in the Trump era because the president is known to watch it every day, host Brian Kilmeade conceded that Trump had made an unforced error.

Kilmeade said Trump's conduct was 'something that needs to be corrected' and suggested he take to Twitter to address the criticism.

'It's correctable. It's still early. He can start by even tweeting something out today,' Kilmeade said.

Fox Business Network host Maria Bartiromo went even further on her daytime show, 'Mornings with Maria,' contending that Trump's press conference was 'probably the low point of the presidency so far' and asserting there is 'no question' Russia meddled in the 2016 election.

'But the president didn't want to address it in front of Vladimir Putin,' she said, 'which is a head-scratcher.'

WASN'T ME: Asked at a joint news conference with Putin if believed his Russian counterpart or his intelligence chiefs, Trump said he doesn't 'see any reason' why Putin's government would have hacked the Democratic National Committee

The White House announced later in the day that President Trump would defend his Helsinki summit directly to cameras in an effort to blunt criticism.

Spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said a 2 pm meeting with Members of Congress that had been closed to press would be opened up so that the president could make remarks on his trip to Finland.

Trump was still being raked over the coals for claiming that Russia had 'no reason' as far as he can see to have carried out an election hacking scheme that his own intelligence officials have linked to the Kremlin.

Sen. Rand Paul, an unlikely figure within the GOP, emerged as the president's sole defender as President Trump continued to take a beating.

The libertarian lawmaker, who has been a swing vote for Trump's agenda, said that the Republican president had been unfairly hit with an 'onslaught' of allegations since he took office, when it was Hillary Clinton's campaign that is known to have funded a dossier of dirt on her opponent.

Trump promptly rewarded him with a tweet that proclaimed 'you really get it' as he watched the bad reviews of his performance in Helsinki roll in.

A day before, Trump had said that while he has 'great confidence' in his intelligence officers, 'President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial' that it directly involved Russia.

Putin on Monday denied Russia had any role in the election and offered to interrogate a dozen of his country's nationals who were indicted last Friday in the special counsel investigation.

An unlikely figure within the GOP came to the president's defense on Tuesday morning as President Trump took a beating in the press for his news conference with Vladimir Putin -- Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul

Asked at a joint news conference with Putin if believed his Russian counterpart or his intelligence chiefs, Trump said he doesn't 'see any reason' why Putin's government would have hacked the Democratic National Committee.

'My people came to me — Dan Coats came to me and some others — they said they think it’s Russia,' the president said of his director of national intelligence. 'I have President Putin; he just said it’s not Russia.'

He added: 'I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be, but I really do want to see the server.'

Trump said, 'I have great confidence in my intelligence people.

'But I will tell you that President Putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. And what he did is an incredible offer. He offered to have the people working on the case come and work with their investigators with respect to the 12 people. I think that's an incredible offer,' Trump said.

Brennan expressed total disbelief at Trump's news conference.

Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, who served during the Obama administration, said it was 'truly unbelievable.'

'On the world's stage, in front of the entire globe, the President of the United States essentially capitulated and seems intimidated by Vladimir Putin. So it was amazing and very, very disturbing,' Clapper said Monday on CNN.

Trump's current DNI, Coats, countered Trump in a statement and said that Russia was clearly involved in the interference in the last election.

'We have been clear in our assessments of Russian meddling in the 2016 election and their ongoing pervasive efforts to undermine our democracy,' he said in a statement on Monday, 'and we will continue to provide unvarnished and objective intelligence in support of our national security.'

Trump tweeted from Air Force One on Monday as he travelled back to the United States that he has 'GREAT confidence' in his intelligence team but 'in order to build a brighter future, we cannot exclusively focus on the past.'

'As I said today and many times before, 'I have GREAT confidence in MY intelligence people.' However, I also recognize that in order to build a brighter future, we cannot exclusively focus on the past – as the world's two largest nuclear powers, we must get along! #HELSINKI2018,' he wrote.