Donald Trump staged a show of unity Saturday with Republican leaders and key cabinet members, insisting they were making "incredible" progress on a 2018 agenda and branding as a "disgrace" an incendiary book questioning his fitness for office.
Standing in a frigid hangar at a hastily convened news conference at the Camp David presidential retreat, Trump said Republicans were "very well-prepared for the coming year" after a "very strong" finish to 2017.
He praised the "incredible meetings" at Camp David, where the Republicans discussed security, military, budget and immigration issues, among other topics.
As Republican leaders took turns at the microphone to deliver pep talks, House speaker Paul Ryan promised a "very bold agenda for 2018," saying it would appeal to "Democrats and Republicans and independents."
But television networks and news websites had spent much of the morning focused on a more divisive topic -- the new bombshell book, "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House" by Michael Wolff -- which raises questions about Trump's intelligence, competence and stability.
Asked about it at Camp David, Trump said that "it's a disgrace that somebody's able to... do something like that" and suggested the United States needs stronger libel laws.
Trump early Saturday had fired off a series of tweets in which he called himself a "a very stable genius" and named his two greatest assets as "mental stability and being, like, really smart."
"Fire and Fury" was rushed into stores on Friday after the Trump administration failed to suppress it.
The book quickly sold out in Washington and has been the talk of the town.