Steve Bannon, the president's chief strategist, told reporters to their faces that they were the 'opposition party' on Wednesday.

Journalists were camped out in front of White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer's office, awaiting comment on the news of the day, when Bannon and White House Chief of Staff Reince Preibus emerged from within.

'The opposition party, all lined up,' Bannon quipped as he passed by.

Steve Bannon, the president's chief strategist, told reporters to their faces that they were the 'opposition party' on Wednesday

In additon to DailyMail.com, White House Correspondents from the Dallas Morning News, Roll Call, the New York Times and NBC News were present when it happened.

CNN's Jim Acosta was also there. Trump has trashed the network as 'fake news' in the past, and at a January press conference, he and Acosta got into a yelling match.

Bannon, a former Breitbart News chief, has been using the term 'opposition party' to describe the mainstream press for several weeks in interviews, but it's the first time he's been observed saying it to reporters' faces.

Bannon first used the phrase during a New York Times interview that ran on Jan 26.

'The media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for awhile,' Bannon said.

He told the news outlet that President Donald Trump frequently slams to quote him as saying: 'The media here is the opposition party.

'They don’t understand this country. They still do not understand why Donald Trump is the president of the United States,' Bannon stated.

He trotted out the label again as he spoke to CNN for a profile it ran on Spicer today.

The premise of the piece was that Spicer will be moving out of his West Wing office before he gets a chance to settle in.

Rumors that Spicer is on the verge of being fired are without merit, Bannon and Priebus said.

'The President has full confidence in Sean,' Priebus said. 'What he thinks is that this is a media narrative that's B.S., that's what he thinks.'

Journalists were camped out in front of White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer's office, awaiting comment on the news of the day, when Bannon and White House Chief of Staff Reince (Bannon's right) Preibus emerged from within

Bannon told CNN, 'The opposition party is completely focused on trying to destroy Trump and his administration.

'It's not going to happen,' he added.

The senior Trump aide suggested to CNN that he has no interest in mending fences with major press outlets.

'I could care less,' he said