Trump says CNN interviews would be 'disloyal' and claims he made veteran journalist Lawrence O'Donnell cry

Donald Trump has claimed that an interview with CNN would be "disloyal" to his fan base, in a discussion on Fox News Radio in which the US president dredged up a list of grievances and claimed MSNBC anchor Lawrence O'Donnell once cried while apologising to him.

The wide ranging interview on Thursday morning with Fox News's Brian Kilmeade came just a day after the president attacked the conservative network over perceived bias against him, and suggested that he and his supporters would need to find a "new News Outlet". When asked about that row on Thursday, Mr Trump deflected and attacked CNN and MSNBC, before suggesting he had dirt on CNN president Jeff Zucker.

Mr O'Donnell, who hosts a show on MSNBC, reported on Tuesday night that Russian oligarchs had co-signed loans for Mr Trump while he was a private businessman — a claim that would support so-far unverified theories of financial connections between Mr Trump and Russia. But, Mr O'Donnell retracted that story later in his show, saying that it was not a solid enough story to report on air, but not that it was false.

Mr Trump has pounced on that retraction, and has attacked Mr O'Donnell repeatedly. During his call with Fox News Radio on Thursday, he brought up a previous dispute with Mr O'Donnell, from 2015, when the MSNBC host claimed that Mr Trump had been fudging the numbers when describing how much money he made on his NBC show The Apprentice.

"We had this big dispute in The Apprentice, he said I was never paid anything, and I said I was paid a fortune," Mr Trump said, recalling the dispute. He then claimed Mr O'Donnell was forced to apologise, saying "he was crying because it was very embarrassing to him."

Mr Trump's claims about CNN followed after Mr Trump was questioned about his Wednesday attacks on Fox News, in which he lashed out at the network for employing former Democratic National Committee chairwoman Donna Brazile.

"The new @FoxNews is letting millions of GREAT people down! We have to start looking for a new News Outlet," Mr Trump wrote on Wednesday. "Fox isn't working for us anymore!"

But, when Mr Kilmeade asked him about the attacks, Mr Trump instead attacked MSNBC and CNN — a regular target for him.

"MSNBC and CNN, and all of them for the most part, they're just really despicable people, it's fake news and it's a shame," Mr Trump said. "It's so bad for our country, and in spite of that I win because I have incredible people that are so smart."

"They have panels where they have panels with all Trump haters on them." Mr Trump said, before suggesting he has insider information on the network's president. "Jeff Zucker is, give me a break, I could tell you stories about him. Jeff Zucker."

He later continued, claiming CNN frequently asks him for interviews: "CNN in particular, is begging me to do an interview, and I just think it would be disloyal to my followers, what are they going to ask me? I just think it would be very disloyal to people that are Trump fans. and people who voted for me, and people who are going to vote again."

Mr Kilmeade, for his part, agreed that Mr Trump should not agree to an interview with a competing news outlet.