The White House is apparently digging up dirt on Sen. Chris Murphy, should he decide to challenge Donald Trump in 2020.

According to a report in the New York Post, Trump's chief strategist, Steve Bannon, asked consultants to look into four Democrats — Murphy, Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio, Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.

The two senators "are seen as viable threats who can quickly raise money and build a network of supporters," according to The Post.

Murphy's political star has risen as he's battled Congressional Republicans and Trump. At the Democratic National Convention in July, Murphy spoke about the Sandy Hook school shooting, which happened a month after he was elected, and blamed Republicans for their inaction on gun control. He made the "first cut" of possible vice presidential picks for Hillary Clinton, according to a hacked email published by WikiLeaks.

During the campaign and since Trump was sworn in, Murphy has criticized the president on a wide range of topics. A member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, he's made multiple cable television appearances to attack Trump's foreign policy.

Jennifer Duffy, who analyzes the Senate for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, said Murphy is a credible presidential candidate, but she doesn't consider him to be a frontrunner.

"He can raise money, he should win re-election fairly easily and his record is progressive enough," she said in an email. "The downside is that he isn't really well known. The problem for him is that the list for 2020 is long and I don't expect that Murphy is near the front of the line. That can change, but for now, I think that the reaction among Democratic activists would be to name five to 10 other potential candidates before they get to his name."

Murphy capitalized on The Post story by sending out a fundraising email with the subject line "Looks like we have Steve Bannon's attention."

"You can imagine my surprise when I woke up yesterday to news that the White House political department is scouring my background because of my outspoken efforts to stop the worst of President Trump's dangerous agenda," the email reads, before quoting from The Post story. "I'll take it as a compliment."

On more than one occassion Murphy has been asked about his plans for 2020. His standard response is he's focused on his work in the Senate and his own re-election coming up next year.

"This job to me is the honor of a lifetime and my intentions are only to be a greated United States senator from Connecticut," he told reporters in December, after a college student who grew up in Connecticut filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission forming a political action to draft Murphy for a presidential run.

At a forum with students at Wesleyan University earlier this month, a student asked Murphy whether he would be announcing a run for president.

"Sit down. Sit down. Next question," Murphy said, followed by laughter, according to an account published in Wesleying, a student-run blog.