Paid staffers were on hand to cheer for Trump at his press conference

AP

Donald Trump.

Members of President-elect Donald Trump's staff were on hand to cheer for him at his press conference Tuesday morning, according to a report from Politico.

It was Trump's first official press conference in 169 days.

People in the audience at Trump Tower in Manhattan could be heard clapping when Trump berated CNN as "fake news" and refused to take a question from reporter Jim Acosta.

Members of the crowd also cheered when Trump deflected a question from a reporter about releasing his tax returns.

"Oh jeez," Trump said, "I've never heard that before. The only ones who care about my tax returns are the reporters."

Trump reportedly employed actors to cheer for him when he announced his presidential bid at Trump Tower in 2015.

The president-elect will be inaugurated on January 20. In the lead-up to that event, Trump has been wrangling with a slew of controversies that include potential conflicts of interest involving his businesses, claims that Russian officials acquired damaging information about him, and the fallout of an investigation into Russia's election-related cyberattacks that allegedly aimed to tip the presidential race in his favor.