Donald Trump lashed out angrily at reporters during a private breakfast and appeared to say the whistleblower who filed a complaint against him should be punished for “treason.”

“I want to know who’s the person, who’s the person who gave the whistleblower the information? Because that’s close to a spy,” Trump said. “You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart? Right? The spies and treason, we used to handle it a little differently than we do now.”

The Los Angeles Times’ Eli Stokols reported Thursday that Trump went after the whistleblower during a breakfast in New York for filing a complaint about his conversation with the Ukrainian president.

Trump: "You know what we used to do in the old days when we were smart? Right? The spies and treason, we used to handle it a little differently than we do now." https://t.co/8OLSxoRbzD

— Eli Stokols (@EliStokols) September 26, 2019

New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman also reported on Trump’s remarks, noting the president seemed to suggest some sort of punishment for “spies” – which would be the death penalty, historically speaking.

NEWS – Potus st closed door event said he wants to know who gave the whistleblower information, said it’s close to a spy and said US used to deal with spies differently https://t.co/aG6jDxfkJ4 via @NYTimes

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) September 26, 2019

Haberman also spoke briefly with CNN’s Brianna Keilar Thursday afternoon, telling her “we are heading into uncharted territory” and that his comments stunned some people in the room.

Trump also bashed the press in his remarks, and was egged on by someone in attendance shouting “fake news.”

“You know, these animals in the press,” Trump said. “They’re animals, some of the worst human beings you’ll ever meet.”

“They’re scum,” Trump continued. “Many of them are scum, and then you have some good reporters, but not many of them, I’ll be honest with you.”

Trump also attacked Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden and complained about being investigated over the whistleblower complaint.

“Then you have sleepy Joe Biden who’s dumb as a rock,” Trump said. “This guy was dumb on his best day and he’s not having his best day right now. He’s dumb as a rock. So you have sleepy Joe and his kid, who’s got a lot of problems, he got thrown out of the Navy — look, I’m not going to, it’s a problem…so we won’t get into why.”

WATCH: