A Florida court recently handed down a ruling that the board of the Pulitzer Prize organization must provide internal communications for the discovery phase in the lawsuit brought by President Donald Trump against them. He is suing the Pulitzer Prize Committee over its awarding its top prize to the New York Times and Washington Post for their combined coverage of the Russian collusion storyline that dominated the news for years.
In a recent motion filed by the lawyers for the Pulitzer Prize board members, they sought to get a Protective Order Governing Discovery to prevent the requirement that internal documents be given to the court. Judge Robert L. Pegg, in the Circuit Court of Okeechobee County, ruled against this motion. “The rule requires ‘an affirmative showing of annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, or undue burden or expense’ from such party or person… Defendants have failed to meet this requirement.”
Trump filed the suit against the Pulitzers in 2022, alleging the board recognized the two outlets as co-winners in 2018 in order to substantiate the accusations that the Trump campaign worked with Russia in the 2016 presidential campaign. The lawsuit states this claim was debunked, but the Pulitzer board went forward to grant this award for the coverage to lend more credibility to the accusations.
In its description of the work that was being awarded for National Reporting, the committee recognized the two outlets for their work on the collusion storyline. Twenty articles entries between both newspapers were cited for recognition:
For deeply sourced, relentlessly reported coverage in the public interest that dramatically furthered the nation’s understanding of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and its connections to the Trump campaign, the President-elect’s transition team and his eventual administration.
The reason Trump brought this suit to the Pulitzers was in part because he was unable to sue The Times and The Post for defamation due to the statute of limitations. When Trump requested the Pulitzers rescind this particular award, as a result of the Mueller Report effectively killing off the long-running collusion narrative, the body issued a defiant report. In its statement in response, the board declared it conducted a pair of internal reviews and would stand by its awarding of its honor to the papers. […]
— Read More: redstate.com
