By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The first gripe came three minutes into President Donald Trump's first solo news conference on Thursday, when he accused reporters of ignoring a poll showing him with a 55 percent approval rating - a figure at odds with most other surveys. On a day when he ceded a loss over a signature policy in a federal appeals court, had to replace his labor secretary pick and faced questions over the resignation of his national security adviser, Trump chose to make the media a central focus of an unusually long and combative presidential news conference. When asked by journalists of contacts between his presidential campaign and Russian operatives, he deflected the questions and put the focus instead on what he described as "illegal" government leaks and "dishonest" media coverage.



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