Thread by @W7VOA

At @WhiteHouse #SocialMediaSummit, @POTUS says "this is a historic day" as never before have so many online journalists and social media influencers have come together.

"You reach more people than any television network broadcast by far," adds @POTUS.

Faint praise for @Scavino45 -- @POTUS says he wasn't so good at running clubs but he was always looking at his computer screen.

"Some of you are extraordinary. The crap you think of is unbelievable," adds @POTUS to the group of mainly conservative online influencers.

"We have three friendly unfriendly courts" on the #2020Census question (the subject of his upcoming news conference today).

"Pretty amazing" that questions of how many toilets a household has can be asked on the #2020Census but not about citizenship, adds @POTUS.

"My leader," remarks @POTUS introducing @GOPLeader -- saying he likes to hear that phrase.

"Pretty unlimited future" for @Liz_Cheney, says @POTUS introducing her and then says his pardon of Scooter Libby, which she supported, was very popular.

His tweets are no longer taking off like they used to, complains @POTUS, implying something unusual is going on.

"It used to be like a rocket shop when I put out a beauty."

"I've never seen it before, where I go up and then come down," @POTUS says on his follower count on #Twitter. "I don't have the fake people."

Some others with millions of followers "have phony numbers...they're playing games," asserts @POTUS.

"I call Twitter a typewriter," explains @POTUS, noting his tweets go instantly on @FoxNews immediately but not so quickly on @CNN (except if he makes "a punctuation mistake.")

"We hardly do press releases anymore" because of his use of Twitter which has more immediate impact, adds @POTUS.

"He died. He died," says @POTUS of @Schwarzenegger taking over @ApprenticeNBC.

"We did something yesterday on kidney and kidney dialysis...it got very little coverage," laments @POTUS. "It should get covered...because they don't want to give that to a conservative."

"I used to get the greatest press...possibly one of the reasons I'm here," says @POTUS.

"When the historians look back, they're going to see something really important took place. Right here," predicts @POTUS.

"Remember we won. We have a bigger voice than anybody. And we don't get covered fairly," continues @POTUS, with references to 'The Russian Hoax' and 'The Witch Hunt.'

"How did a fly get into the White House?" asks @POTUS. "I don't like flies. I don't like flies."

"They shouldn't be liking the other sides," says @POTUS, presumably about the top social media companies. "They should be liking our side" because conservatives support "freedom."

Socialism will lead to communism, according to @POTUS.

"They learned it was my real hair that day," says @POTUS of rainy #4thofJuly #SaluteToAmerica. "We've seen it all."

"I spoke too early on Elizabeth Pocahontas Warren," says @POTUS of #Election2020 and @TheDemocrats.

"Just the basic blocking of what we want to get out...no doubt in my mind.," says @POTUS contending people complain they can't follow his social media accounts.

"We just set a record" with #DJIA but "I'm a very greedy person," says @POTUS at #SocialMediaSummit.

He'll be "calling a big meeting of the (technology) companies in a week or two -- they have to be here," says @POTUS.

"Antifa is never there when we have a bikers' rally" and only goes after "a single guy protesting around a school," according to @POTUS.

After meeting with the top people at @Google and @Twitter, @POTUS says he thought they were sincere but "three or four weeks later it's worse."

"They're not using that brilliance and they're not using what we gave them fairly," adds @POTUS. "That's no longer free speech."

The fake news media is also not "free speech," adds @POTUS and he calls @CNN "total fakes."

"We're not going to be silenced," vows @POTUS.

"It's genius, but it's bad," says @POTUS of some of those in the audience at this #SocialMediaSummit.

He's directing his administration today to explore all options to "protect free speech" says @POTUS. "Big tech must not censor the voices of the American people."

New technology "has to be used fairly," says @POTUS.

And @POTUS now taking questions from those invited to the #SocialMediaSummit and the first one goes to @SebGorka. During his question @WhiteHouse cuts off the livestream).

Update: More than 24 hours later, @WhiteHouse releases the transcript of @POTUS and others' remarks at the #SocialMediaSummit but it does not include the subsequent Q&A portion.

Also office of @VP says hesitation for the press entering the room was @SecretService concerns over the Pence entering but that the office pushed for press access, adds pool report from @jdawsey1.