Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said Friday that should he find himself in the White House, the news media should watch out.

During a campaign rally in Fort Worth, Texas, Trump spent several minutes railing against the news media for, he said, dishonesty and malfeasance.

"And believe me, if I become president, oh, do they have problems," Trump said, referring specifically by name to the New York Times and the Washington Post. "They're going to have such problems."

"I'm going to open up our libel laws so when they write purposefully negative and horrible and false articles, we can sue them and win lots of money," he said. "We're going to open up their libel laws."

Trump's threat came after a debate the previous evening where he was widely perceived by the media to have been bested by his rival Marco Rubio for the GOP nomination.

Rubio repeatedly interrupted and taunted Trump throughout the debate, pushing the billionaire businessman to get into more specifics about his policy proposals.

In what appeared to be an effort to train the media's spotlight back on himself, Trump on Friday held a press conference where New Jersey Gov. and former GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie endorsed him. The rally in Texas followed, where Trump pledged that the news media would "have people sue you like you've never been sued before."