Three journalists have resigned from US news network CNN after the broadcaster retracted an article alleging a Trump aide was under investigation by Congress.

The story was taken down on Friday following an internal probe, with an apology to aide Anthony Scaramucci.

Mr Scaramucci said it was not true, accusing the network of attacking Donald Trump’s friends.

The president’s son, Donald Trump Jr, tweeted the network was “fake news”.

Journalist Thomas Frank, investigative unit editor Eric Lictblau – a Pulitzer Prize winner – and Lex Harris, who oversaw the investigations unit, all resigned on Monday.

‘Mistakes’

A spokesman for the network – which earlier said the story “did not meet CNN’s editorial standards” – said: “In the aftermath of the retraction of a story published on CNN.com, CNN has accepted the resignations of the employees involved in the story’s publication.”

The story was written based on the account of a single anonymous source. Many news outlets require at least two sources before running a story.

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CNN – along with organisations like the Washington Post and New York Times – has found itself butting heads with Donald Trump and his administration since they took office.

Like his son, Mr Trump has called the organisation “fake news” and refused to answer questions put to him by one of its journalists.

But Mr Scaramucci, a Trump transition team member, appeared content with CNN’s resolution of the issue.

“@CNN did the right thing. Classy move. Apology accepted. Everyone makes mistakes. Moving on,” he tweeted on Saturday.