President-elect Donald Trump has attempted to spin away some of the controversies surrounding his upcoming administration in a series of interviews with Axios, Fox News and The Washington Post.

Trump wants to give all world leaders an "even start."

Despite a weekend interview with Germany's Bild and the Times of London that made it sound an awful lot like Trump is preparing to abandon Europe to Putin's imperialist ambitions, Trump insisted to Axios that " all I said was that I give everybody an even start; that's all I said . . . So, I give everybody an even start; that right now, as far as I'm concerned, everybody's got an even start . . . I think people start off on a somewhat equal footing."

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Donald Trump wants to read "as little as possible" during his intelligence briefings.

One of Trump's complaints was that intelligence briefings, which he has been criticized for refusing to read, are simply too long. "I like bullets or I like as little as possible," he said to Axios.

Is lying necessary?

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"I don't want to answer the question because it's — it gets to, you know, a different level than we're talking about for this interview," he told Axios. But he also said that lying is "not something that I would like to be doing."

Rep. John Lewis "grandstanded," was caught in a "very bad lie."

"I think he just grandstanded, John Lewis, and then he got caught in a very bad lie, so let’s see what happens," he said to Fox. "As far as other people not going, that’s OK, because we need seats so badly, I hope they give me their tickets."

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Trump doesn't like tweeting, he says.

"Look, I don’t like tweeting. I have other things I could be doing," he told Fox. But I get very dishonest media, very dishonest press, and it’s my only way that I can get out and correct."

Despite pushing to repeal the Affordable Care Act shortly after taking office, Trump insists that he wants everyone insured.

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"[T]here are many people talking about many forms of health care where people with no money aren't covered," he told Axios. "We can't have that. Now, whether it's Medicaid block grants or whatever it may be, we have to make sure that people are taken care of and it's going to be a very important part to me."

Donald Trump wants to bring military parades to the U.S.

“Being a great president has to do with a lot of things, but one of them is being a great cheerleader for the country,” Trump told the Washington Post. “And we’re going to show the people as we build up our military, we’re going to display our military.

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“That military may come marching down Pennsylvania Avenue. That military may be flying over New York City and Washington, D.C., for parades. I mean, we’re going to be showing our military,” he added.