Trump says he's been '100 percent proper' with Russia probe

THURMONT, Md. (AP) — President Donald Trump said Saturday that "everything I've done is 100 percent proper" regarding the special counsel's investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election and he insisted that his campaign didn't collude with Moscow or commit any crime.

His team has been "open" with special counsel Robert Mueller and "done nothing wrong," Trump told reporters at Camp David, where he was meeting with Republican congressional leaders and Cabinet members to discuss legislative strategy in the new year.

He bemoaned the unrelenting focus on alleged Russia ties, saying the probe is "very, very bad for our country. It's making our country look foolish and this is a country that I don't want looking foolish, and it's not going to look foolish as long as I'm here."

A number of news outlets, including The Associated Press, have reported that Trump directed his White House counsel to tell Attorney General Jeff Sessions not to withdraw from the Justice Department's investigation into potential ties between Russia and the Trump campaign.

Sessions' decision to step away prompted Mueller's appointment.

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Trump says he's 'like, really smart,' 'a very stable genius'

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump felt compelled Saturday to let the world know he's playing with all his marbles and is among the sharpest cookies around.

In a series of tweets, Trump defended his mental fitness and boasted about his brains, saying he is "like, really smart" and "a very stable genius." It was the latest pushback against a new book that portrays him as a leader who doesn't understand the weight of his office and whose competence is questioned by aides.

"Actually, throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart," Trump tweeted from Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, a few hours before a strategy session on the 2018 legislative agenda with Republican congressional leaders and Cabinet members.

And when Trump addressed reporters later, the Ivy League graduate was ready for the question.

"I went to the best colleges for college," said Trump, who holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania. "I had a situation where I was a very excellent student, came out, made billions and billions of dollars, became one of the top business people, went to television and for 10 years was a tremendous success, as you probably have heard, ran for president one time and won."

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Trump says he'd be open to talking with North Korean leader

THURMONT, Md. (AP) — President Donald Trump, shelving comparisons about the size of a "nuclear button," said Saturday he is open to talking with the North Korean leader he's called "Little Rocket Man" and hopes some progress results from upcoming talks between the Koreas.

Trump, who last year lambasted his chief diplomat for talking about negotiations with the nuclear-armed North, told reporters at Camp David that some dialogue or direct conversation with Kim Jong Un was not beyond the realm of possibility.

"Sure, I always believe in talking," Trump said. "Absolutely I would do that, I wouldn't have a problem with that at all." But he was quick to add that any talks would come with conditions, which he did not specify.

The first formal talks between North and South in more than two years are set to take place in a border town Tuesday as the rivals try to find ways to cooperate on the Winter Olympics in the South and to improve their ties. Tensions are high because of the North's nuclear and missile programs.

"Right now they're talking Olympics. It's a start, it's a big start," Trump said during a question-and-answer session after meetings with GOP leaders in Congress and Cabinet members on the administration's 2018 legislative agenda.

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AP FACT CHECK: Trump and team on air safety, vets, pollution

WASHINGTON (AP) — It's been a week of bogus boasting by President Donald Trump and members of his administration as they took unearned credit for airline safety, pollution cleanup and major advances in care for veterans.

The president ignored fatality-free years in aviation during the Obama administration when he declared 2017 the safest year on record and suggested that was because he's kept a sharp eye on airlines.

He represented routine and ceremonial proclamations recognizing a day in remembrance of Pearl Harbor and a month in honor of military families as substantive achievements that improved care for veterans.

And his Environmental Protection Agency took credit for completing work on seven Superfund sites even though the actual cleaning was done by President Barack Obama's EPA.

Here's a look:

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100 million people affected by East Coast's deep freeze

NEW YORK (AP) — About 100 million people faced a new challenge after the whopping East Coast snowstorm: a gusty deep freeze, topped Saturday by a wind chill close to minus 100 on New Hampshire's Mount Washington that vied for world's coldest place.

Jaw-clenching temperatures to start the weekend throughout the Northeast hit Burlington, Vermont, at minus 1 and a wind chill of minus 30. Both Philadelphia and New York were shivering at 8 degrees.

And in Hartford, Connecticut, a brutal cold of 10 degrees yielded a wind chill of minus 20.

On Saturday, winds of more than 90 mph swirled Mount Washington, the Northeast's highest peak, at a temperature of minus 37 degrees and a wind chill of minus 93. It tied for second place with Armstrong, Ontario, as the coldest spot in the world.

Boston, at a relatively balmy 11 degrees, was wrangling with a different kind of challenge: a shortage of plumbers as the weather wreaked havoc on pipes that froze and cracked, Democratic Mayor Marty Walsh reported.

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NASA: Legendary astronaut, moonwalker John Young has died

Legendary astronaut John Young, who walked on the moon and later commanded the first space shuttle flight, has died, NASA said Saturday. Young was 87.

The space agency said Young died Friday night at home in Houston following complications from pneumonia.

NASA called Young one of its pioneers - the only agency astronaut to go into space as part of the Gemini, Apollo and space shuttle programs, and the first to fly into space six times. He was the ninth man to walk on the moon.

"Astronaut John Young's storied career spanned three generations of spaceflight," acting NASA administrator Robert Lightfoot said in an emailed statement. "John was one of that group of early space pioneers whose bravery and commitment sparked our nation's first great achievements in space."

Young was the only spaceman to span NASA's Gemini, Apollo and shuttle programs, and became the first person to rocket away from Earth six times. Counting his takeoff from the moon in 1972 as commander of Apollo 16, his blastoff tally stood at seven, for decades a world record.

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Trump, GOP lawmakers huddle at Camp David

THURMONT, Md. (AP) — Emerging from closed-door meetings with Republican leaders, President Donald Trump on Saturday held out the prospect of a deal with Democrats on the fate of young immigrants brought to the country illegally as children but appeared to put a welfare system overhaul — once a top White House priority — on the back burner.

Trump spent much of Friday and Saturday morning hashing out his 2018 agenda with GOP House and Senate leaders, top White House aides and select Cabinet members at the presidential retreat at Camp David. He described the sessions as "incredible" and "perhaps transformative in certain ways."

A long list of high-stakes topics were on the agenda, from national security and infrastructure to the budget and 2018 midterm election strategy. Though Democrats were not included in the discussions, the leaders — some dressed casually in jeans, khakis and sweaters — said they were optimistic that more Democrats would be working with Republicans.

"We hope that 2018'll be a year of more bipartisan cooperation," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters, predicting a "significant number of Democrats" would be interested in supporting Trump's agenda.

It's a reflection of reality: Republicans hold a razor-thin majority in the Senate and will need Democrats' support to push through most legislation. It's unclear, however, the extent to which Trump is willing to work with Democrats to achieve that goal.

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Pope on Epiphany: Don't make money, career your whole life

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Saturday advised against making the pursuit of money, a career or success the basis for one's whole life, urging in his Epiphany remarks to also resist "inclinations toward arrogance, the thirst for power and for riches."

During a homily at Mass in St. Peter's Basilica, Francis said people "often make do" with having "health, a little money and a bit of entertainment." He urged people to help the poor and others in need of assistance, giving freely without expecting anything in return.

Many Christians observe Epiphany to recall the three wise men who followed a star to find the baby Jesus. Francis suggested asking "what star we have chosen to follow in our lives?"

"Some stars may be bright, but do not point the way. So it is with success, money, career, honors and pleasures, when these become our lives," the pope said, adding that path won't ensure peace and joy.

Later, during an appearance from his studio window overlooking St. Peter's Square, Francis urged tens of thousands of faithful gathered below not to be indifferent to Jesus.

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Told their treehouse must go, owners appeal to Supreme Court

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lynn Tran and Richard Hazen built a Florida beachfront treehouse that would be the envy of any child. It's got two levels, hammocks and windows looking out on the Gulf of Mexico.

But the hangout has cost the couple a handsome sum: about $30,000 to construct and probably five times that in legal fees as they've fought local authorities over it, Tran said. Now, they're at their last stop, the Supreme Court. Unless the high court intervenes, the treehouse must be torn down.

The justices had their first opportunity to consider taking the case at a closed-door conference Friday, and a decision on whether they will weigh in could come as early as Monday.

The couple's lawyer, David Levin, acknowledges the case is unlikely to be accepted by the justices, who only hear argument in about 80 of the thousands of cases they're asked to take each year. But he argues that his clients' rights were violated when a Florida court "rubber stamped" a ruling proposed by the city of Holmes Beach without any evidence of independent consideration.

Tran and Hazen haven't been willing to give up on the structure she calls their "getaway."

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Jerry Van Dyke, 'Coach' star and brother of Dick, dies at 86

NEW YORK (AP) — Jerry Van Dyke, the younger brother of Dick Van Dyke who struggled for decades to achieve his own stardom before clicking as the dim-witted sidekick in television's "Coach," died Friday in Arkansas, according to his manager. He was 86.

John Castonia said Van Dyke died at his ranch in Hot Spring County. His wife, Shirley Ann Jones, was by his side. No cause was immediately known.

Van Dyke had an affable, goofy appeal, but he spent much of his career toiling in failed sitcoms and in the shadow of his older brother, even playing the star's brother in "The Dick Van Dyke Show."

Until "Coach" came along in 1989, Van Dyke was best known to critics as the guy who had starred in one of television's more improbable sitcoms, 1965's "My Mother the Car." Its premise: A small-town lawyer talks to his deceased mother (voiced by actress Ann Sothern), who speaks from the radio of an antique automobile.

Other bombs included 1967's "Accidental Family," in which he was a nightclub comedian, 1970's "The Headmaster," in which he was a gym teacher and 1963's "Picture This," a game show that lasted only three months. He also joined "The Judy Garland Show" in 1963, to provide comic relief, but was fired at the end of the season.