US President Donald Trump hugged an American flag following a speech in Washington DC.

The embrace became viral and sparked a Twitter war between Trump's supporters.

However, CNN has revealed that Trump had embraced the American flag at least five more times during his presidential campaign.

One of Trump's critics on Twitter joked that the flag would now join the Me To movement, while others wrote that the flag would sue the president or seek to take a shower. On the other hand, the president's supporters viewed the act as a patriotic gesture of a leader who loves his people.

Trump defended his administration's "zero tolerance" policy against illegal immigration during his speech.

"We want to solve family separation, and I don't want the children to be taken away from parents, and when you are prosecuting the parents for coming in illegally, which should happen, you have to take the children away," Trump said.