Trump lashes out at Fox News in extraordinary rant over critical coverage of him, calling for 'new outlet'

President's suggestion that news outlet works for him quickly criticised by employees at Fox

Donald Trump has lashed out at Fox News in a rant on Twitter, attacking the conservative news network for hiring a Democrat as a commentator, and urging his followers to find a "new News Outlet".

In a thread, Mr Trump claimed that Fox News was promoting Democrats, and said that Donna Brazile — a former Democratic National Committee chairwoman who is now a Fox contributor — had on Wednesday been "spewing out whatever she wanted with zero pushback by anchor" Sandra Smith.

Mr Trump then attacked other prominent figures at the channel, which is known for its conservative slant and has been heavily favoured by Mr Trump in the past, including Juan Williams, and Shep Smith.

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

The president's suggestion that a news outlet should only air news that is favourable to him was quickly renounced online, including by employees of Fox News.

"Fox News isn’t supposed to work for you," Brit Hume, a senior Fox political analyst, wrote on Twitter, retweeting the president's attack.

"We don’t work for you," said Guy Benson, a contributor to the channel and political editor of the conservative news website Town Hall.

The tweet storm comes as Mr Trump has built up tension in recent weeks with the network, which airs the morning show Fox & Friends that the president is known to watch in the mornings and tweet about throughout the day. Mr Trump appears to be concerned in large part by the hiring of Ms Brazile, who he has repeatedly claimed gave debate questions to his former political rival Hillary Clinton before they sparred during the 2016 election.