Donald Trump has accused CNN of trying to silence Bernie Sanders after the Vermont Senator joked that the network was 'fake news'.

Sanders was speaking to the network's Erin Burnett about alleged ties between the president and Vladimir Putin - as well as a New York Times report claiming national security adviser Michael Flynn discussed US sanctions on Russia with the country's ambassador prior to Trump's inauguration.

During the interview, Sanders sarcastically mimicked Trump by dubbing CNN 'fake news'. Moments later, there was some sort of technical fault and the Vermont Senator's connection was dropped.

After making the 'fake news' remark, Sanders was seen looking off to the side as his connection dropped out

Trump was quick to seize on the glitch and suggest Sanders was shut off for questioning the network.

'While on FAKE NEWS @CNN, Bernie Sanders was cut off for using the term fake news to describe the network. They said technical difficulties!' he tweeted on Sunday morning.

However, a transcript of the interview makes it clear that not only was Sanders joking with his description, but CNN knew he was as well.

After being shown a clip of Trump saying he had not seen the report about Flynn's alleged Russian involvement, Burnett asked Sanders if it was a problem that the president was not aware of the claim.

Trump seized on the technical error and used it to suggest Sanders was being silenced by the network

'Well, I don't know, maybe he was watching CNN fake news, what do you think?' Sanders said dryly, before adding: 'that was a joke.'

Burnett then replied: 'I know it was a joke. I'm saying, you don't buy what he said, obviously?'

But Sanders lost his feed before being able to answer, and was heard saying: 'I'm not… are we on?'

Burnett, who could still hear Sanders, then cut to commercial and said they had 'lost connection' with the Senator.

But Sanders was clearly joking when he called CNN 'fake news' - and host Erin Burnett (left) was seen trying to hold back laughs as he did so

CNN said Trump's claim Sanders was 'cut off' was 'false' - and posting the full transcript of the interview to prove it

When the show returned from break, Sanders was back on the air and continued his discussion with Burnett.

'Senator Sanders is back with me and I want to apologize to our viewers obviously for that technical issue. And Senator, you had just been talking, joking about, you know, CNN fake news but obviously the reports about General Flynn,' Burnett said, before Sanders cut in.

'Well, here is the point, Erin. It is not a joke,' he said.

'When you have a president who attacks people in the media, who make critical remarks of them... when you have a president who attacks a judge who rules against him is a so-called judge, indicting the entire judiciary, clearly we have a president who does not understand what our constitution is about, what democracy is about and I think there is a fear in this country of this nation under Trump moving into a more authoritarian mode.'

Trump (pictured on February 10) has routinely attacked the media - especially CNN - throughout his campaign and time in the White House

Since Trump's tweet, CNN has released a statement denying the president's allegation.

'False... he was not cut off. Those are the facts,' it read, before providing a link to a transcript from the interview.

Trump routinely attacked the media throughout the campaign, and has continued to do so since taking office.

CNN has bore the brunt of the president's outbursts, with Trump refusing to take a question from reporter Jim Acosta during a press conference and describing the network as 'fake news'.