US President Donald Trump said he has been fully briefed on an audio recording of journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder but does not want to listen to it himself.

“Because it’s a suffering tape. It’s a terrible tape. I’ve been fully briefed on it, there’s no reason for me to hear it,” he said in an interview with Fox News Sunday that aired in the US overnight.

“It was very violent, very vicious and terrible,” he said. “I know everything that went on in the tape without having to hear it.”

Mr Trump also defended his administration’s response to the killing.

“You saw we put on very heavy sanctions, massive sanctions on a large group of people from Saudi Arabia,” Mr Trump said.

“But at the same time we do have an ally and I want to stick with an ally that in many ways has been very good.”

In a wide-ranging interview with Fox News, Mr Trump also revealed what former President Barack Obama told him was the biggest challenge facing the US, discussed potential high-level departures from his administration and admitted that he actually enjoys calling on CNN reporter Jim Acosta.

“Actually I like to do it, but in many cases I don’t,” Mr Trump acknowledged.

In ruling that the administration temporarily has to restore Acosta’s press pass on Fifth Amendment grounds, federal judge Timothy J. Kelly noted that Mr Trump could simply choose to ignore Acosta.

But Mr Trump, speaking to Wallace, had another idea. “I think one of the things we’ll do is maybe turn the camera off that faces them because then they don’t have any airtime, although I’ll probably be sued for that and maybe, you know, win or lose it, who knows,” Mr Trump mused. “I mean, with this stuff you never know what’s going to happen.”

Calling Acosta “unbelievably rude to Sarah Huckabee, who’s a wonderful woman,” Mr Trump said his administration is currently formulating “rules and regulations” for White House reporters.

“And if he misbehaves, we’ll throw him out or we’ll stop the news conference,” the president added.

Turning to another one of his frequent critics — former President Barack Obama — Mr Trump took something of a victory lap, following news that some of the top candidates Mr Obama had backed in the midterm elections had come up short.

“I won against President Obama and Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama in a great state called Georgia for the governor,” Mr Trump said, referring to Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams’ top surrogates.

But Mr Trump also revealed that Mr Obama had offered him some important guidance shortly after his election.

“I think North Korea’s been very tough because you know we were very close. When I took that over — President Obama right in those two chairs, we sat and talked and he said that’s by far the biggest problem that this country has,” Mr Trump told Wallace.

“And I think we had real decision as to which way to go on North Korea and certainly at least so far I’m very happy with the way we went.”

Mr Trump also addressed some of the negative press he has received.

Explaining why he cancelled a trip to visit a World War I memorial ceremony in Paris, Mr Trump cited the weather and sharply criticised the media for making a “big deal” out of the situation.

“They said, ‘Sir,’ the Secret Service said, ‘Sir, you cannot go. We are not prepared. You cannot go,’” Trump said. “Because it was supposed to be helicopter, but the helicopter couldn’t fly because of zero visibility.”

Calling media reports that he is bitter and resentful following the midterm elections nothing more than “disgusting fake news,” Mr Trump addressed some potential high-level departures from his administration.

On Department of Homeland Security head Kirstjen Nielsen, Mr Trump suggested he wants to see an improvement on border security.

“Well, I like her a lot. I respect her a lot,” Mr Trump said. “She’s very smart. I want her to get much tougher and we’ll see what happens there. But I want to be extremely tough. … I like her very much, I respect her very much, I’d like her to be much tougher on the border — much tougher, period.”

He added there’s a “chance” she will continue in her role.

On Chief of Staff John Kelly, Mr Trump said he will “move on” at some point.

“There are certain things I love what he does,” the president said. “And there are certain things that I don’t like that he does — that aren’t his strength. It’s not that he doesn’t do — you know he works so hard. He’s doing an excellent job in many ways.

“There are a couple of things where it’s just not his strength. It’s not his fault, it’s not his strength. … But John, at some point, is going to want to move on. John will move on.”

Taking stock of the administration’s progress after two years, Mr Trump gave himself high marks — literally.

“I think I’m doing a great job. We have the best economy we’ve ever had,” the president said. “We’re doing really well. We would have been at war with North Korea if, let’s say, that administration continued forward.

“I would give myself, I would — look, I hate to do it, but I will do it, I would give myself an A+, is that enough?” he said. “Can I go higher than that?”