President Donald Trump on Friday railed against members of the free press during a speech at the Department of Justice, calling them "corrupt" and their work "illegal."
"I believe that CNN and MSDNC, who literally write 97.6% bad about me, are political arms of the Democrat Party," Trump said during a speech in the Great Hall at the Department of Justice, referring to cable news outlets CNN and MSNBC.
Though not unprecedented, presidents typically refrain from interacting with the Justice Department, as the department and White House historically have worked independently from each other.
"In my opinion, they're really corrupt, and they're illegal," the president said about the cable networks. "What they do is illegal. It makes no difference how big a victory I had."
"These networks and these newspapers are really no different than a highly paid political operative," Trump later continued. "And it has to stop. It has to be illegal. It's influencing judges, and it's really changing law."
"I don't believe it's legal," the president added in his remarks to the Justice Department. "They do it in total coordination with each other and everything we do."
