The presidential campaign of Rand Paul on Wednesday accused CNN of political bias after newly released 2013 emails seemed to suggest that one of the news channel's reporters counseled a State Department official working for then-Secretary Hillary Clinton on how to write tweets critical of the Kentucky senator.

The journalist in question, CNN global affairs correspondent Elise Labott, has already been suspended over a separate incident, in which she criticized a House bill limiting Syrian refugees. The Paul campaign said Labott worked with senior State Department adviser Philippe Reines to discredit the senator and urged the channel to "address (its) bias."

In a statement, Doug Stafford, Paul's chief strategist, accused CNN of having exhibited a "lack of journalistic integrity" and demanded that the channel take immediate action. "The liberal media has taken their Clinton sycophancy to a new low," Stafford wrote.

Paul's campaign also noted that the Atlanta-based news network, in collaboration with Salem Radio, is set to host the next GOP presidential debate, which is slated to take place on Dec. 15, in Nevada, according to the Washington Post.

"This email revelation should give Republicans pause as to their coverage and possibility of fair treatment towards Sen. Paul during the next debate," Stafford suggested. "All eyes will be on CNN's response to their employee colluding with Hillary Clinton in order to attack a prominent U.S. senator on their dime."

The Kentucky senator, meanwhile, quickly made use of the incident by encouraging his supporters to donate to his presidential campaign, which has suffered from consistently low poll numbers in recent months, the Washington Examiner pointed out.

"The truth is, I'm fed up with stories like this," Paul wrote to his backers in a message distributed on Wednesday.

"Is it any wonder why recent polls show 60 (percent) of Americans don't trust the news media?" he wondered "After winning the night with my strong performance during the last Republican debate, my campaign has seen a massive increase in momentum, fundraising and on-the-ground grassroots support."