Trump backs far-right radio presenter who almost came to blows with CNN analyst at White House: 'Gorka Wins Big, No Contest!'

Donald Trump has backed Sebastian Gorka after the far-right radio presenter and a CNN analyst aggressively confronted each other at the White House.

Mr Gorka, a former assistant to the US president, was caught on video calling reporter Brian Karem a "punk" in front of assembled media and dozens of right-wing social media figures in the Rose Garden on Thursday.

It came after Mr Karem, a Playboy journalist who also works as an analyst for CNN, told the Salem Radio presenter: "Come over here are talk to me brother, we can have a long conversation."

A Secret Service agent was forced to break the pair up as guests at the White House social media "summit" chanted, "Gorka!" repeatedly.

"@SebGorka Wins Big, No Contest!" Mr Trump tweeted on Friday morning.

Conservative authors, meme creators and social media influencers had convened at the White House for the president's social media summit on Thursday, when he railed against online platforms for what he alleges (without evidence) is the systemic suppression of the right.

He later invited those audience members to the White House Rose Garden for an announcement about his 2020 Census demands, where the altercation occurred.

Earlier Thursday, Mr Trump sent a stream of Twitter messages lashing out at social media companies and the press, familiar targets that resonate with his conservative base.

The meeting represented an escalation of Mr Trump’s battle with companies like Facebook, Google and even his preferred communications outlet, Twitter, where he has an estimated 61 million followers.

The president has claimed, without evidence, that the companies are “against me” and even suggested US regulators should sue them on grounds of anti-conservative bias.

He announced Thursday that he is directing his administration to explore “all regulatory and legislative solutions to protect free speech and the free-speech rights of all Americans.”

And Mr Trump said he is inviting executives from major social media platforms to join him at the White House over the next month or so.

The firms already are under closer scrutiny than ever by regulators and in Congress following a stream of scandals, including Facebook’s lapses opening the personal data of millions of users to Mr Trump’s 2016 campaign.

A bipartisan push for new data privacy legislation has emerged in Congress. Regulators at the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission are pursuing antitrust investigations of Facebook, Google, Apple and Amazon.

Mr Trump unleased a volley of Twitter messages Thursday leading up to the conference. The targets were familiar — “certain companies,” the press and his Democratic rivals. The president predicted, without foundation, the demise of the press and the social media platforms if he loses to a Democrat in 2020.

After the conference, the president published a series of tweets slamming Bitcoin and other types of digital currency — including Facebook’s recently announced Libra.

Additional reporting by AP