President Donald Trump veered quickly from confrontational to conciliatory, vowing not to satisfy his “enemies” who want him off Twitter at an inaugural ball on Friday night. | AP Photo On Day 2, Trump sticks to media bashing and boasting On his first full day in office, the new president showed he has no plans to change his public persona.

President Donald Trump declared fresh war on ISIS — and the news media — while trying to forge a new alliance with the intelligence community in a visit to the CIA headquarters, his first to an executive agency as president.

Speaking Saturday in front of the wall memorializing fallen officers at CIA headquarters, Trump promised to give the intelligence community his full backing, and hinted at loosening rules on torture put in place under President Barack Obama in the fight against ISIS. "We have not used the real abilities that we have. We’ve been restrained," Trump said.


He described reporters as "the most dishonest human beings" and claimed he'd drawn as many as 1.5 million people to his inauguration despite official estimates closer to 200,000 and repeated images of empty standing spaces. He made his claims as millions of demonstrators were to the White House, Trump Tower, and elsewhere around the country in opposition to his administration.

The CIA visit came after Trump openly warred with the intelligence community during his transition, expressing doubt about its conclusions that Russia intervened in the election to aid him and comparing the intelligence agencies to “Nazi Germany” for alleged leaks.

His performance at Langley echoed his strikingly populist inaugural address Friday, and his comments at inaugural balls later in the evening, including exchanges with members of the armed services at the Military Ball in which Trump returned to familiar themes about his election victory.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer followed Trump's lead, refusing to address the nationwide protests against the new administration on Saturday while doubling down on Trump’s claims that his Inauguration drew far more people than was reported and that “the media” is deliberately sowing divisions.

Spicer took to the White House podium in the press briefing room to castigate reporters Saturday and tell them the White House would hold the media “accountable.”

“Yesterday, at a time when our nation and the world watched the peaceful transition of power — and as the president said, the transfer and balance of power from Washington to the citizens of the United States, some members of the media were engaged in deliberately false reporting,” Spicer said.

Spicer blamed “floor coverings” used to protect the grass for highlighting areas that were empty, and blamed heightened security for limiting the amount of people on the Mall.

“Inaccurate numbers involving crowd size were also tweeted,” Spicer said. “No one had numbers. … By the way this applies to any attempts to try to count the number of protesters today in the same fashion.”

Spicer went on to say that “this was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period. Both in person and around the globe.”

He did not provide any evidence to back up that claim.

In fact, available data and photographs indicate the crowd was smaller than at past inaugurations. Metro ridership as of 11 a.m., for example, was higher at inauguration ceremonies in 2005, 2009 and 2013 — and at Saturday’s Women’s March — than for Trump’s inauguration.

Trump took to social media Saturday morning to praise Fox News for its coverage of his inaugural address.

He also set about putting his personal touch on the Oval Office, from changing the drapes to giving prominent placement to a bust of Winston Churchill. Some in the Trump family also took advantage of the White House's perks, with Donald Trump Jr. tweeting out a picture of the family bowling at the White House bowling alley.

Signs of Trump’s foreign policy began to emerge Saturday.

As Trump’s team prepares the schedule for his first week, London’s The Telegraph reported that British Prime Minister Theresa May is planning to visit the U.S. and meet with the new president next week. However, a top foreign policy aide to Trump was unable to confirm the visit.

“I can’t tell you yet,” retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, now chief of staff of the National Security Council told POLITICO. “I just don’t know.”

Trump has pledged close relations with the United Kingdom after its vote to leave the European Union, and has said a bilateral trade deal with the country will be a top priority.

On Friday, Trump signed an executive order to freeze regulations and another that could start the process of undermining the Affordable Care Act.

And a clear signal was sent to federal employees that public dissent would not tolerated after the National Park Service’s Twitter account posted pictures showing the crowd at Trump’s inauguration was far smaller than that which attended Barack Obama’s 2009 swearing-in. A memo was quickly sent that agencies within the Department of the Interior were to cease activity on Twitter. The posts in question were deleted, and the NPS returned to Twitter Saturday with an apology.

“We regret the mistaken RTs from our account yesterday and look forward to continuing to share the beauty and history of our parks with you,” the agency said, posting a picture of a buffalo with the message.

Disorganization continued to be a running theme at the White House. Some of the White House’s press wranglers continued using personal email addresses because their official ones had yet to be set up, and there was confusion as to whether or not the prayer service was open to the press (it was). And Trump’s plans for the day, usually disseminated directly to the media, were instead blasted out on Twitter by Spicer.

As Trump has vowed to upend traditional Washington, he stuck to the traditional script Saturday, attending a prayer service at the National Cathedral. Trump, seated in the front row with his wife, Melania, as well as Vice President Mike Pence and Karen Pence, sang along to the national anthem, occasionally patting his chest.

Yet even at the prayer service, Trump could not escape notes of opposition to his plans.

Trump listened to a prayer that said, "Break down the walls that separate us"—a not-so-subtle knock on his promise to wall off the nation’s southern border.

Shane Goldmacher contributed reporting.