US President Donald Trump has defended his use of social media after being criticised over comments he made about a pair of TV hosts.

Mr Trump called Mika Brzezinski "crazy" and labelled Joe Scarborough a "psycho" in a Twitter outburst which the MSNBC presenters described as "unmoored behaviour".

Defending his remarks, the president tweeted: "My use of social media is not Presidential - it's MODERN DAY PRESIDENTIAL."

My use of social media is not Presidential - it’s MODERN DAY PRESIDENTIAL. Make America Great Again!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2017

He added: "The FAKE & FRAUDULENT NEWS MEDIA is working hard to convince Republicans and others I should not use social media - but remember I won the 2016 election with interviews, speeches and social media."

Later, Mr Trump claimed the media "is trying to silence us" as he addressed supporters at the Kennedy Centre in Washington DC.

He said: "The fake media tried to stop us from going to the White House, but I'm President and they're not."

Mr Trump asserted that the media "has destroyed themselves because they went too far", adding that "instead of being subtle and smart they used a hatchet".

On Friday, Brzezinski and Scarborough delayed a planned holiday to write a joint piece for the Washington Post in which they questioned the President's mental state.

They wrote: "America's leaders and allies are asking themselves yet again whether this man is fit to be president.

"We have our doubts, but we are both certain that the man is not mentally equipped to continue watching our show, Morning Joe."

In his tweets, the president had claimed Brzezinski was "bleeding badly from a face-lift" when he met the pair at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida around New Year's Eve.

The presenters denied Brzezinski had a face-lift but said she "did have a little skin under her chin tweaked".

The row escalated when the president denied claims White House staff warned Brzezinski and Scarborough earlier this year that the National Enquirer tabloid was planning a negative story about them.

The pair alleged they were told the story would have been cancelled if they called Mr Trump and "begged".

Referring to the claim on Friday, Mr Trump tweeted: "Watched low rated @Morning_Joe for first time in long time. FAKE NEWS. He called me to stop a National Enquirer article. I said no! Bad show."