Washington: An angry President Donald Trump insisted Thursday that he was not in a "rage" when he abruptly cancelled a meeting with top Democrats at the White House. Despite 24 hours of furious tweets and a hastily arranged press event at which he expressed bitterness at Democrats, Trump explained he'd been unflappable on Wednesday while blowing up the meeting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer.

"I was extremely calm yesterday with my meeting with Pelosi and Schumer, knowing that they would say I was raging, which they always do, along with their partner, the Fake News Media," Trump said in a tweet.