Takeaways From Donald Trump's First Press Conference In 587 Days

It has been 587 days since US President Donald Trump held his last press conference, according to The Washington Post that has been running a log on its website calculating the same. On Wednesday, Mr Trump addressed the press for over an hour, which many believe comes as a political outreach to detractors and more importantly to American citizens ahead of the November 6 mid-term elections.

The rare news conference was set in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly or UNGA.

Here are five highlights from the question-and-answer session with Mr Trump that NDTV attended:

Trump turned down Canada's request for a meeting, but did Prime Minister Justin Trudeau actually make the bid...

Donald Trump has made it absolutely clear that Canada's Justin Trudeau is not his friend. Mr Trump said Canada requested a meeting and he rejected it. But reports have emerged that quote Mr Trudeau's spokesperson Eleanore Catenaro as saying: "No meeting was requested by the Canadian government." The two countries have been at loggerheads for the past few months over the North American Free Trade Agreement or NAFTA.

Donald Trump says the UNGA did not laugh at him, they were laughing with him.

Mr Trump claimed that the United Nations was not laughing at him when he boasted about his government's successes during a speech to the annual UN General Assembly. They were just sharing a "good time" and any other reports are "fake news," he said.

As Mr Trump boasted in his trademark manner of how "in less than two years my administration has accomplished more than almost any administration in the history of our country," assembled global dignitaries started to chuckle. He replied "I didn't expect that".

Headlines quickly emerged about the world laughing at the US president, but Mr Trump said he had simply connected with an audience not known for levity -- "people who aren't big into clapping, applauding, smiling."

Trump says he has proof of China trying to meddle in US elections, but fails to give any.
At the UN meeting, Mr Trump alleged that China was attempting to meddle in the US mid-term elections. When asked what evidence he had, Mr Trump said: "We have evidence. It will come out. It didn't come out of nowhere, that I can tell you. They don't want me or us to win because I am the first president to ever challenge China on trade."

North Korean leader sent three "beautiful" letters to Mr Trump.

The letters were "beautiful", according to Mr Trump. The US president said he will share the letters with the media in the future and praised the North Korean leader for the change in his stance on nuclear weapons. Mr Trump said he showed one of the letters to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who, according to Mr Trump, remarked that it is a "historic" letter. The US president, however, failed to divulge any details about the letters.

Mr Trump refuses to answer questions on Brett Kavanaugh.

When asked if he thought that Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh's accuser was lying, Mr Trump said the accusations (of sexual assault) are "all false" but, "I could change my mind."

He added: "I am going to see what happens tomorrow. I am going to be watching. I am going to see what is said. It's possible they will be convincing... I can be persuaded also, I can't tell you if they are liars until I hear them."