The White House has announced that President Donald Trump has fired FBI Director James Comey. Reporters shouldn’t believe another public word they hear from White House officials on the subject.

The president is lying about why he fired the FBI director. He lies constantly, on the smallest matters and, as in this case, on the largest ones. He is lying now. The press must call him out.

Trump claims he made his decision based on recommendations from Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Sessions claimed that a “fresh start” was needed for the bureau, while Rosenstein produced a two-page brief essentially arguing that Comey should be removed because of the manner in which he publicly discussed the FBI’s investigation into Hillary Clinton’s email server.

Comey’s handling of the email server investigation was improper. It beggars belief to think that is the actual reason for his removal.

Trump and Sessions both publicly praised Comey’s actions during the presidential campaign, and The New York Times is reporting based on administration sources that White House and DOJ officials have been building the case against Comey after Sessions was “charged with coming up with reasons to fire him.” Comey’s firing came as his agency was investigating whether the president’s associates had colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election, and he’s not the first high-ranking government official to be fired while investigating the president’s associates.

Some conservative journalists are already casting aspersions at liberals who criticize the president’s actions, following the White House talking points by claiming that the president is just doing what they’ve wanted all along. In so doing those pundits expose themselves as shills for Trump who have sacrificed any shred of credibility. They should be shunned by mainstream outlets. On this subject, the cable news model of providing both sides to every issue will fail the audience of any outlet that attempts it.

Dark times are ahead, and the American people are counting on the press to shine a light.