President Donald Trump has long had a contentious relationship with CNN and often accuses the cable network of being "fake news."

However, the animosity ratcheted up sharply this week when Trump and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem suggested that CNN should be prosecuted. 

Noem says DOJ will look into going after CNN

According to Fox News, Noem put forward the idea on Tuesday while touring "Alligator Alcatraz," a new migrant detention facility which is located in Florida.

"Yeah, we’re working with the Department of Justice to see if we can prosecute them for that," the Homeland Security secretary was quoted as telling reporters.

"Because what they’re doing is actively encouraging people to avoid law enforcement activities, operations, and we’re going to actually go after them and prosecute with the partnership of Pam [Bondi] if we can, because what they are doing we believe is illegal," she added.

Noem was referring to a report published by CNN late last month on a recently created phone app known as ICEBlock, which was created by tech engineer Joshua Aaron.

Border czar says app creator "crossed the line here"

The app, which CNN says currently has roughly 20,000 users, is designed to help people avoid Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

"When I saw what was happening in this country, I wanted to do something to fight back," Aaron told CNN before likening the Trump administration's immigration enforcement measures to Nazi war crimes.

Fox News noted that Border Czar Tom Homan spoke out against ICEBlock during a Monday appearance on "The Will Cain Show," saying, "They've crossed the line here, this is out of control."

"I know it's just simply disgusting, and any network that covers that is disgusting… So I'm hoping DOJ steps in here and see if they cross that line of impeding federal law enforcement officers," he added.

"Assault against ICE is up over 500%," Homan complained. "Now you've got an app that's going to tell where ICE operations are going to. It's only a matter of time before ICE agents are ambushed by some nut, like what happened in L.A."

For his part, Trump said that CNN could also "very well be prosecuted also for having given false reports on the attack in Iran."

"They were given totally false reports. It was totally obliterated. And our people have to be celebrated, not come home and say, ‘What do you mean we didn’t hit the target?’ We hit the target quickly," Trump declared.

"You know, the pilots came home, they said we hit the target quickly. So they may very well be prosecuted for that. What they did there, we think, is totally illegal," the president asserted.