President Donald Trump took to Twitter early Thursday to lash out at Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., for comments the senator made a day earlier after sitting down with Trump's Supreme Court nominee.

Blumenthal came out of a meeting with Judge Neil Gorsuch on Wednesday relaying Gorsuch's disappointment with Trump's recent attacks on the judicial system.

Speaking by phone Thursday, Blumenthal said Gorsuch "said not once but several times that these attacks are disheartening and demoralizing" and that Gorsuch told him "to feel free to repeat his remarks."

Gorsuch's spokesman, Ron Bonjean, confirmed he made the comments, Blumenthal said, adding that the president "can check with his own White House staff."

"His counsel was there," Blumenthal said.

Trump has criticized a federal judge in Seattle for imposing a broad restraining order on his travel ban, which temporarily bars citizens from seven majority-Muslim nations from entering the U.S. He also has accused judges of threatening national security by not reinstating the ban.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Thursday night to not reinstate the ban.

Trump wrote on Twitter: "Sen. Richard Blumenthal, who never fought in Vietnam when he said for years he had (major lie), now misrepresents what Judge Gorsuch told him?"

The tweet references misstatements made by Blumenthal about serving in Vietnam during the war. Blumenthal, who served six years in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, was posted stateside throughout the war.

After Blumenthal appeared Thursday morning on CNN's "New Day," when he was asked by Chris Cuomo to respond to the president's comment, Trump tweeted again, saying, "Chris Cuomo, in his interview with Sen. Blumenthal, never asked him about his long-term lie about his brave 'service' in Vietnam. FAKE NEWS!"

Blumenthal did not respond directly to Trump's tweet Thursday. Instead he emphasized that Gorsuch "has a real obligation to be public and clear and direct in his condemnation of the abhorrent and destructive attacks on our constitutional system and core democratic principles by the president."

"He has to not only defend judicial independence but also show the American people that he himself is truly independent and will not simply be a rubber stamp for Donald Trump," Blumenthal said.

Blumenthal has not yet decided whether he will support Gorsuch's nomination, saying that he will make his decision only after having the opportunity to press Gorsuch on a number of issues, such as women's rights, at a future hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

j.bergman@theday.com