Image copyright Reuters Image caption Stephen Bannon said America's mainstream media outlets "don't understand this country"

President Donald Trump's chief strategist has described US mainstream media as "the opposition party", saying it should "keep its mouth shut".

Stephen Bannon also told the New York Times that news organisations had been "humiliated" by their failure to anticipate Mr Trump's election victory.

Media outlets have clashed with the White House over the number of people attending Mr Trump's inauguration.

They have also questioned his claim about millions of illegal ballots.

In a telephone interview with the newspaper, Mr Bannon said that "the media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for a while".

"The media here is the opposition party," he said and later added "not the Democratic party".

Mr Bannon also argued that news outlets "don't understand this country".

"They still do not understand why Donald Trump is the president of the United States."

During the interview he was mostly referring to the "mainstream" or "elite" media, however he specifically mentioned the The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Where do Donald Trump supporters get their news from?

He spoke in blunt but calm tones, peppered with a dose of profanities, The New York Times said.

Mr Bannon had been in charge of right-wing Breitbart News website until August, later becoming the campaign CEO for Donald Trump in the final campaign months before the November election.