President Donald Trump suggested he might sue CNN over "fake news" stories.
His remarks came during an address at closed-door Republican fundraiser on Wednesday night, The Intercept said.
The website posted an audio of the president speech on its website on Friday.
"Boy, did CNN get killed over the last few days," Trump is heard saying on the audio.
The Intercept noted CNN last week retracted a story about a Trump ally's ties to a Russian bank. Three of the network's journalists resigned in the wake of the flap, it said.
"It's a shame what they've done to the name CNN, that I can tell you," Trump said. "But as far as I'm concerned, I love it. If anybody's a lawyer in the house and thinks I have a good lawsuit — I feel like we do. Wouldn't that be fun?"
And he ripped into CNN commentator Van Jones and network president Jeff Zucker.
"These are really dishonest people," he said. "Should I sue them? I mean, they're phonies. Jeff Zucker, I hear he's going to resign at some point pretty soon. I mean, these are horrible human beings."
Jones admitted he was caught in an undercover video saying: "The whole Russia thing is a big nothing-burger."
But he explained that he did not mean there is "nothing" to the allegations that members of team Trump colluded with the Russians."
"I have been consistently pushing my fellow Democrats to deal with bread and butter issues — and not just hope and believe Trump will be impeached and gone tomorrow," he said.
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