Mr. President,
A free press is not an enemy of the presidency. It is one of the institutions that allows the American public to know what its government is doing.
Recent actions restricting access for CNN, MS NOW and Politico have raised serious constitutional and democratic questions. A federal judge has ordered the administration to restore access temporarily while the legal dispute proceeds, finding that the journalists were likely deprived of constitutionally required due process.
This is bigger than any individual news organization.
You have every right to criticize journalists. You have every right to challenge reporting that you believe is inaccurate. But government power should not be used to punish a news organization simply because its coverage is unfavorable or because its questions are uncomfortable.
The First Amendment protects freedom of the press. That protection exists precisely because government officials must be subject to scrutiny—even when that scrutiny is difficult, embarrassing or politically inconvenient.
The American people—not the White House—should decide which journalism they trust.