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Fire and Fury: Trump book row overshadows Republican summit Fire and Fury: Trump calls himself a 'stable genius'
(about 2 hours later)
Donald Trump has continued attacking critics over a tell-all book as his party gathers for a key meeting to thrash out their priorities for 2018. US President Donald Trump has rejected questions raised over his mental health in a bombshell book, describing himself as a "very stable genius".
Michael Wolff's book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House suggests even those close to Mr Trump have questioned his capability.
The US president has dismissed the book, calling Wolff a "loser".
The row has overshadowed a key meeting of Republicans as they try to thrash out their priorities for 2018.
A retreat at Camp David will focus heavily on a strategy before crucial congressional elections in November.A retreat at Camp David will focus heavily on a strategy before crucial congressional elections in November.
Michael Wolff's book raises concerns over Mr Trump's mental health. The president called Wolff a "total loser". Mr Trump is among those attending, but on Saturday the fallout from the book was again his focus, with the president accusing Democrats and the "fake news" media of "screaming mental stability and intelligence".
Mr Trump tweeted he was mentally fit, adding that he was a "genius....and a very stable genius at that". Fire and Fury went on sale early on Friday, days ahead of its scheduled release, amid the president lawyers' attempts to block its publication. It has become an instant bestseller.
The Camp David summit begins two weeks before the end of Mr Trump's first year in office. It will seek to tie up unfinished business by Republicans, who have rallied around Mr Trump during the release of Wolff's book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House. The book describes a Trump team shocked by their own win on election night, a chaotic White House, and senior administration officials calling Mr Trump an "idiot".
"We have a lot of things to work on, a lot of things to accomplish," Mr Trump said as he left for the Maryland retreat. It has also sparked a public rift between Mr Trump and his former aide Steve Bannon, who is quoted as accusing Mr Trump's eldest son Donald Jr of "treasonous" behaviour in meeting a group of Russians.
Those issues are reported to include:
Money, money, money
Specifically, how legislators can agree on funding the federal government for the current fiscal year. If they don't do so before 19 January, there is a risk of a government shutdown.
Different Republicans have different priorities: for example, Paul Ryan, the Speaker of the House, is keen to address a reform of welfare programmes.
On the other hand, Mr Trump and Mitch McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, will push for funding to rebuild infrastructure, Reuters news agency reports.
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security was widely reported on Friday to have asked for $18bn (£13.3bn) to complete a section of Mr Trump's much-vaunted border wall with Mexico - though it is unclear if this will be discussed in the latest round of budget talks.
How to win in 2018
We are 10 months from congressional elections in the US - all 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for grabs, and another 33 in the Senate.
Kevin McCarthy, the House of Representatives' Majority Leader, is among the Republican leaders who will speak this weekend.
In an interview with Fox News this week, he said that the party of a first-time president always lost an average of 25 seats in the next House election after they were sworn in. The Republican majority in the House is only 24 seats, he warned.
Mr McConnell is expected to address the political landscape ahead of the Senate elections, Associated Press report.
It will be difficult to avoid discussing the victory of Democrat Doug Jones in last month's Senate race in deeply conservative Alabama. Wider Democrat wins later in 2018 would make it much more difficult for Mr Trump and Republicans to push through their policies.
Anything else?
The agenda is not public, but various US media outlets have said the talks will also look at:
What is the latest with the Wolff book?
Fire and Fury went on sale early on Friday, days ahead of its scheduled release, despite the president's attempts to block its publication.
The book says:
Mr Bannon and the author have both been the target of the president's ire over the past few days - the former cried when he lost his job last year, Mr Trump said; the latter had written a book "full of lies", he added.Mr Bannon and the author have both been the target of the president's ire over the past few days - the former cried when he lost his job last year, Mr Trump said; the latter had written a book "full of lies", he added.
On Saturday morning, Mr Trump posted a series of tweets accusing rivals of trying to throw doubt on his mental wellbeing.
"Throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart," he wrote.
On Friday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told CNN that he had "no reason to question" Mr Trump's mental fitness.On Friday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told CNN that he had "no reason to question" Mr Trump's mental fitness.
He said Mr Trump was "not typical of presidents of the past". Trump is not letting this one go
"I think that's well recognised. That's also though why the American people chose him," he said. Analysis by Anthony Zurcher, BBC News Washington
Perceived slights, insults and questions about his intelligence. If Donald Trump's recent Twitter feed is any indication, these are the topics on the president's mind as he settles in for the night and when he rises in the morning.
Given the daunting tasks facing the administration and Congress in the coming weeks, some of his allies and aides at Camp David may view the president's concerns as misdirected.
That Mr Trump feels compelled to respond to criticism, however, should come as little surprise. This is particularly true when the topic is his intellect, the strength of which he frequently boasts.
In Fire and Fury, Michael Wolff recounts tales by White House aides of a president with a short attention span, bouncing from issue to issue like a pinball. In recent interviews, the author has said the president's aggressive reaction to his book proves this point.
It seems, however, that Mr Trump's counterattack is just getting started.
What is the Republican meeting about?
The Camp David summit begins two weeks before the end of Mr Trump's first year in office, and seeks to tie up unfinished business by Republicans.
"We have a lot of things to work on, a lot of things to accomplish," Mr Trump said as he left for the Maryland retreat.
The agenda has not been made public, but the key issues are likely to be:
Money: Or more specifically, how legislators can agree on funding the federal government for the current fiscal year. If they don't do so before 19 January, there is a risk of a government shutdown.
How to win in 2018: Congressional elections are 10 months away, with all 435 seats in the House of Representatives up for grabs, and another 33 in the Senate.
It will be difficult to avoid discussing the victory of Democrat Doug Jones in last month's Senate race in deeply conservative Alabama. Wider Democrat wins later in 2018 would make it much more difficult for Mr Trump and Republicans to push through their policies.
Immigration: Namely, what protection will be given to hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants who were brought to the US as children
The opioid crisis: These drugs killed more than 33,000 people in 2015, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Mr Trump has promised to address the situation, but his "opioid czar" Kellyanne Conway does not appear to be at Camp David.