President Donald Trump celebrated a Florida appellate court’s decision to allow his defamation lawsuit against the Pulitzer Prize Board to move forward. The case focuses on Pulitzer Prizes awarded to The New York Times and The Washington Post for their reporting on alleged ties between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia —coverage often referred to as “Russiagate.”
Conservatives, including Trump, later labeled the story the “Russia hoax” after investigators found no evidence of collusion. Trump argues that the reporting was false and defamatory, and he is demanding that the Pulitzer Board revoke the prizes.
Pulitzer Board’s request to pause lawsuit denied
The Pulitzer Board had asked the Florida appellate court to pause the defamation lawsuit, citing “constitutional concerns” due to Trump’s current status as president. The court rejected that argument and ruled that the case could proceed.
The board argued that a constitutional conflict, citing the supremacy clause and Trump’s re-election, warrants pausing the case. But in a seven-page ruling acquired by Law & Crime, the court dismissed that argument, stating, “Such privileges are afforded to the President alone, not to his litigation adversaries.”
The court’s decision clears the way for the defamation case to continue.
Trump reacted to the court’s decision on Truth Social, calling it a “major win.”
“They’ll have to give back their ‘Award,’” Trump said. “They were awarded for false reporting, and we can’t let that happen in the United States of America.”
Background of the lawsuit
Trump filed the lawsuit in 2022, alleging defamation by the Pulitzer Board after it defended its 2018 awards to The New York Times and The Washington Post. The newspapers had reported extensively on alleged Russian interference in the 2016 election and potential connections to Trump’s campaign.
Some of the headlines that contributed to the Pulitzer awards included:
- “The Fake Americans Russia Created to Influence the Election” (The New York Times)
- “Trump Revealed Highly Classified Information to Russian Foreign Minister and Ambassador” (The Washington Post)
The reports led to federal investigations, which ultimately found no evidence of collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia.
The Pulitzer Board has stood by its 2018 awards. In a public statement released months before Trump’s lawsuit in 2022, the board reaffirmed its stance.
“No passages or headlines, contentions or assertions in any of the winning submissions were discredited by facts that emerged subsequent to the conferral of the prizes,” the press release stated.
