CNN President Jeff Zucker
CNN President Jeff ZuckerReuters

CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker on Wednesday blasted President Donald Trump and the White House after a suspected bomb was mailed to the network’s offices in New York.

“There is a total and complete lack of understanding at the White House about the seriousness of their continued attacks on the media,” Zucker said.

“The President, and especially the White House Press Secretary, should understand their words matter. Thus far, they have shown no comprehension of that.”

Earlier on Wednesday, a suspicious package addressed to former CIA director John Brennan, a periodic guest commentator on CNN, was received by the network. Security forces removed the packages from the premises.

Brennan has been an outspoken critic of Trump. He recently called the president’s performance during a joint news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki “nothing short of treasonous.”

In August, Trump revoked Brennan’s security clearance.

Despite Zucker’s assertion, no connection has been established between the suspicious package, as well as other packages that were intercepted before they could reach the homes of former President Barack Obama and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Trump has been a vocal critic of much of the mainstream media, and particularly of CNN, which he has in the past labelled as “fake news”.