Trump calls critical US media outlets 'illegal'

President Donald Trump said Friday in a speech at the Department of Justice that US media outlets which cover him critically are "illegal" and "corrupt."

Trump said CNN, MSNBC and unidentified newspapers "literally write 97.6 percent bad about me" and "it has to stop. It has to be illegal."

Speaking to prosecutors and law enforcement officers at the Department of Justice headquarters, Trump described the media outlets as "political arms of the Democrat party. And in my opinion they're really corrupt and they're illegal. What they do is illegal."

He said the media is "influencing judges and it's really changing law, and it just cannot be legal. I don't believe it's legal. And they do it in total coordination with each other."

Trump has made attacks on the US media a central part of his message ever since his first election to the presidency in 2016.

Unprecedented for a leader in a country where freedom of the press is enshrined in the Constitution, Trump routinely calls journalists he does not approve of "enemies of the people" and "fake news."

Since starting his second term in January, Trump has moved quickly to pressure mainstream media like The Associated Press while boosting access to the White House for formerly fringe right-wing outlets.