Donald Trump has repeatedly called on the Pulitzer Prize Board to rescind the 2018 National Reporting awards won by The New York Times and The Washington Post for their reporting on the debunked claims that Trump colluded with Russia to steal the 2016 presidential election. Those calls were rejected over the summer.
On Thursday, Trump’s legal team notified the board, giving them five days to remove a “defamatory statement” on the Pulitzer Board’s website justifying the 2018 awards and insisting that none of the reporting has been discredited, and threatened legal action if they don’t.
“Be advised that the Board, including its individual members, may be subject to suit and exposed to a judgment for damages, including punitive damages, for defamation. This letter places the Board on notice that the Defamatory Statement must be removed from the Board’s website within five (5) days of receipt of this letter, and a full and fair correction, apology, or retraction issued,” the letter reads. “Under the circumstances, rescinding the 2018 Pulitzer Prizes in National Reporting from their current recipients would necessarily be part of any full and fair attempt to right the wrong caused by the Board’s conduct.”
Allegations of Trump/Russia collusion have been repeatedly debunked. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into the allegations turned up no evidence, nor did a Senate investigation. Former Obama officials also testified there was never any empirical evidence of collusion. Despite this, nearly three-quarters of Democrats still believe Trump colluded with Russia during the 2016 presidential election.
According to Trump’s legal team, “by accrediting the false and misleading reporting of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize recipients with purported independent factual support, the Board has attempted to cast a halo around the entire universe of wrongful reporting on the Russia Collusion Hoax.”
“The Board’s intent in publishing the Defamatory Statement is clear: to preserve and propagate the demonstrably false narrative that President Trump colluded with an adversarial foreign government to become President and thereafter continued that association in some capacity while in office,” the letter continues. “By publishing the Defamatory Statement, the Board and its members acted not only with reckless disregard for the truth, but with authentic animosity and malice toward President Trump and the desire to cause him true harm. As such, the members of the Board are individually liable for the publication of the Defamatory Statement.”
In a statement received by PJ Media, Trump blasted the Board.
“The Russia, Russia, Russia hoax has been totally debunked. The fake news media covered it incorrectly—reporting exactly the opposite of what actually happened,” Trump said. “Yet, the Pulitzer Board has not rescinded the prizes they awarded for reporting that was inaccurate, inept, and corrupt.”
Trump insists that, in order to restore the credibility of the Pulitzer Prizes, the Board “should take away prizes from all who got it wrong,” and added that “it would be appropriate to award new prizes to all those who got it right.”
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