Donald Trump has defended a journalist who was recently fired from CNN for sending a Nazi salute to a prominent liberal activist.

Speaking at a campaign style rally in Phoenix, the US president launched into an animated defence of Jeffrey Lord and expressed his sympathy for the conservative commentator.

Earlier in the month, Mr Lord prompted outrage for tweeting “Sieg Heil” in response to an exchange with Angelo Carusone who is the president of Media Matters for America. After dismissing him, a CNN spokesperson said: “Nazi salutes are indefensible. Jeffrey Lord is no longer with the network.”

Addressing his supporters in Arizona, President Trump bemoaned the fact Mr Lord had been sacked.

“They fired Jeffrey Lord. Poor Jeffrey,” Mr Trump, who has repeatedly feuded with CNN, said exasperatedly.

"Jeffrey Lord. I guess he was getting a little bit fed up and was probably fighting back too hard and they said ‘we gotta get out of here’.”

Mr Lord, who served as associate political editor under the Reagan administration, responded by thanking President Trump on Twitter.

After his “Seig Heil” tweet sparked controversy, Mr Lord claimed he used the phrase to be “mocking”. The expression, which means "hail victory," is banned in Germany because of its link with Adolph Hitler and his Nazi party.

Mr Lord is reportedly now in talks to join far-right online publication Breitbart as a contributor. This comes days after Steve Bannon, President Trump’s former chief strategist who branded the site “the platform for the alt-right” last year, rejoined Breitbart as executive chairman after being sacked from his White House role.

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President Trump also used his rally in Phoenix to launch into a barbed attack on the “fake media”, denouncing journalists as "truly dishonest people" who "don't like our country".

Outside the Phoenix convention centre, shouting matches and minor scuffles broke out between Trump supporters and some of the thousands of protesters who assembled. Police deployed gas and pepper spray to disperse crowds.

Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton had asked President Trump to delay the political event to allow more time for national healing after Charlottesville.

In the lead up to the rally, Mr Stanton said he was “disappointed” President Trump would hold one of his signature campaign style rallies despite America being in a state of national turmoil over the three people killed at a white supremacist rally in Charlottesville earlier in the month.