Donald Trump's son posts edited Top Gun clip showing President shooting 'CNN' out of sky

Donald Trump Jr describes the Top Gun clip as 'one of the best I've seen'

Donald Trump's son has posted an edited clip from the film Top Gun depicting him shooting down CNN, in an apparent escalation of the feud between the US news network and the American President.

Shared on Instagram and Twitter by Donald Trump Jr, the footage was doctored to place his father in the seat of Tom Cruise's fighter jet in the 1986 action movie as he blasts a missile at an enemy plane overlaid with the broadcaster's logo.

It comes a week after the US leader shared a wrestling meme in which he body slammed an opponent whose face is covered by CNN's branding. The President frequently berates the network, calling it "fake news".

After his original post of the edited wrestling video, Mr Trump was accused of inciting violence against journalists.

Donald Trump Jr, the President's eldest child at 39, described the Top Gun clip as "one of the best I've seen" as he shared them on social media alongside laughing emojis.

The video shows the jet covered by CNN's logo exploding in a fireball after being hit by the missile.

Donald Trump Jr shared the video after it was posted on Twitter by @OldRowOfficial, which captioned the tweet: "Hey CNN, we heard you like memes."

Trump supporters lapped up the latest dig at the network which has been on the receiving end of the President's most spiteful attacks on the media. But many other social users did not see the funny side.

Jessica Ellis tweeted: “Reporting this for targeted harassment. This is disgusting.”

One Instragram user wrote: "What the hell is wrong with this family? Have they no shame? Wow."

The President was widely criticised last week for posting the wrestling meme, an edited clip of his cameo at a WWE Wrestlemania show in 2007.

He shared the video, in which he repeatedly pummels and throws to the floor WWE chairman Vince McMahon - whose head is covered by the CNN logo - with a hashtag branding the broadcaster "fraud news".

“It is a sad day when the President of the United States encourages violence against reporters,” the network responded in a statement.

Mr Trump's Homeland Security adviser later denied the tweet encouraged attacks on journalists.

"No one would perceive that as a threat. I hope they don’t,” Thomas Bossert said. "I do think he’s being beaten up in a way on cable platforms that he has a right to respond to."

Donald Trump Jr and his brother have been running the Trump business empire since January (AP)

Anti-media rants have been a regular feature of Mr Trump's presidency and the billionaire frequently denounced accused the press of covering his election campaign unfairly.

He has repeatedly branded the media "fake news" and referred them as "the enemy of the American people".

Mr Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin kicked off their first one-one-one meeting at the G20 summit by trading disparaging comments about the reporters gathered to cover it.

At a photo op before their private G20 summit meeting, Mr Putin leaned in to US President, gestured to the journalists in the room, and asked: "These are the ones hurting you?”

"These are the ones. You're right about that,” Mr Trump responded.

The brief aside drew outcry from journalists, many of whom pointed to troubling media landscape in Moscow.

Almost 60 journalists, including Putin critics and reporters who have exposed political corruption, have been murdered in Russia since 1993.