I believe that I already said "Of course there aren't any mechanisms in the Constitution to let the President do such things (even during total war)." so we are in complete agreement that there is no POSITIVE presidential power that allows it.
On the other hand there is no CONSTITUTIONAL PROHIBITION on the President doing it either.
The difference between the "English School" and the "German School" (of law) is that in the "German School" anything that is not permitted is prohibited while in the "English School" anything that is not prohibited is permitted.
The United States of America is an inheritor of the "English School".
Now, if you were to ask me if I thought that the President could get away with doing it (i.e. ask for a legal opinion) then I'd have to ask you two things before I answered, and those things are:
- "Have you already deposited 100% of my fee into my account?"; and
- (assuming that the answer to Question 1 is "Yes.") "What answer would you prefer to have?".
On the other hand, I'm not prepared to bet even 50% of my lunch money that Congress would let Mr. Trump get away with doing something like that (not even the Congress that is currently sitting).
The 1at Amendment says that "Congress shall make no law" since the Constitution also says that Congress is the legislation and that the President cannot make any laws at all. In other words the president is already prohibited, since he lacks a law allowing him to limit the free press in the first place.
Yet Trump says that he has that power. That is still bad no matter how you spin it.