President Donald Trump's chief strategist Stephen Bannon went off about the mainstream media to reporter for the New York Times.

'The media should be embarrassed and humiliated and keep its mouth shut and just listen for awhile,' Bannon said during a phone call with the Times' Michael Grynbaum, which was reported on today.

Bannon labeled the media the 'opposition party' and suggested that its members were 'humiliated' by the election of President Trump, as many outlets predicted a different victor – Democrat Hillary Clinton – in last year's presidential election.

Chief strategist of President Donald Trump, Stephen Bannon, went on a tirade against the press today as he talked on the phone with a New York Times reporter

Steve Bannon (right), seen with top Trump aide Kellyanne Conway (left), called the mainstream media the 'opposition party' against the Trump White House

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

Bannon's comments come after a rough couple of days between the Trump administration and the press, with mainstream media organizations questioning Trump for statements he's given on his inaugural crowd size and what he contends was widespread voter fraud.

It was Bannon, the Times revealed, who was one of the president's advisers who suggested Press Secretary Sean Spicer make his first appearance in the White House press briefing room Saturday and tear into the press.

Grynbaum had called Bannon to ask him if he thought Spicer should be worried about losing credibility with the news media, after making bold pronouncements about inaugural crowd size and logistics, which couldn't be fully backed up.

Bannon, Grynbaum wrote, 'chortled' and then gave his response.

'Are you kidding me?' he responded. 'We think that's a badge of honor. "Questioning the integrity" – are you kidding me?'

'The media has zero integrity, zero intelligence, and no hard work,' continued Bannon, who had run right-wing news site Breitbart before being tapped to work for Trump.

'You're the opposition party,' Bannon said. 'Not the Democratic Party. You're the opposition party. The media's the opposition party.'

While he referred to media in question as 'elite' or 'mainstream' he uttered the Washington Post and the New York Times by name.

'The paper of record for our beloved republic, The New York Times, should be absolutely ashamed and humiliated,' Bannon said to the New York Times reporter.

'They got it 100 percent wrong.'