At a news conference in Trump Tower on Tuesday morning, the presumptive Republican nominee Donald J. Trump shared his thoughts about the political press and Harambe, the gorilla that Cincinnati Zoo officials shot and killed after a small child wandered into his enclosure.

Mr. Trump had nicer things to say about the gorilla.

The news conference — which Mr. Trump called to defend himself over questions about fund-raising for veterans’ charities — was a textbook example of the candidate’s need to devour media attention and deplore it at the same time.

The offense reporters committed this time: asking whether the money he said he had raised at a January benefit — organized in place of a Fox News debate he was skipping — had really made it to the beneficiaries, and if so, how much.

A candidate said he would do a thing; reporters tried to confirm whether he had. (Last week The Washington Post reported that Mr. Trump had not yet made his own donation.) This, to Mr. Trump, was an outrage, an affront, not very nice treatment at all. He said he had not wanted to claim credit for his deeds — which he promoted, allowed to be covered on television and referred to during the campaign — but the nosy press had forced his hand.