Trump dismisses low poll ratings as ‘fake numbers’ in Time interview

President also doesn’t rule out declaring state of emergency before midterms and deflects responsibility for Iran war

• US politics live – latest updates

Donald Trump deflected responsibility for misleading Americans about the length of the Iran war, dismissed low poll ratings as “fake numbers” and refused to rule out the possibility of declaring a state of emergency before the midterms, in a wide-ranging interview with Time magazine.

When confronted with questions about the length of the Iran war, the US president blamed the media for reporting his remarks in which he said the conflict was projected to last “four to five weeks”, in March.