US President Donald Trump appeared on the stage of the veterans rally on Saturday night, decorated with a massive American flag.

At the “celebrate freedom” concert he worked to energize evangelicals in his political base, noting that the US currency was inscribed with the words: “In God we trust.”

“Since the signing of the declaration of independence 241 years ago, America always affirmed that liberty comes from our creator. Our rights are given to us by God, and no earthly force can ever take those rights away,” he said.

Trump praised veterans from each of the US military branches and highlighted his administration’s work to reform veterans’ services.

He has also taken to Twitter to celebrate the veterans writing “We will always take care of our GREAT VETERANS. You have shed your blood, poured your love, and bared your soul, in defense of our country”.

We will always take care of our GREAT VETERANS. You have shed your blood, poured your love, and bared your soul, in defense of our country. pic.twitter.com/RRTR0MrR9L

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 2, 2017

Meanwhile, Donald Trump has been lashing out at the “fake media”, accusing it of trying to gag him and his supporters during a speech at the evangelical event honoring veterans in Washington.

“The fake media is trying to silence us, but we will not let them,” he said. “The fake media tried to stop us from going to the White House. But I’m president, and they’re not,” he told attendees at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

The president suggested the press “destroyed themselves because they went too far” and told supporters “Their agenda is not your agenda.”

Before taking the podium, he took the rare move of pinning one of his tweets to the top of his feed, one that appeared to shift his slogan from “fake news” to “fraud news”.

I am thinking about changing the name #FakeNews CNN to #FraudNewsCNN!

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