And it’s not just CNN. According to two people close to the president, Trump has also asked his lawyers and advisers about options for legal retaliation against other news outlets, including MSNBC and The Washington Post. Neither of these sources thought much of anything would come of Trump’s inquiries, and simply viewed it as part of the president’s habitual venting about his vast array of perceived enemies in politics and national media.

“The president’s first instinct on these types of things is very often: ‘Sue, sue, sue, then sue some more,’” one of these confidants said. “Doesn’t mean he gets what he wants.”

In recent weeks, Trump has also openly fantasized about suing one of his perennial Democratic foes, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee who leads the probe into the whistleblower complaint that kick-started congressional impeachment drive.