The ex-president reportedly claims the 2018 award went to media outlets that lied to Americans in their ‘Russiagate’ coverage
The Pulitzer Prize Board bestowed a prestigious US journalism award on media outlets that were misleading Americans, Donald Trump reportedly alleged in a defamation lawsuit against the judging body. Fox News claimed the former US president’s legal complaint centers on the New York Times’ and Washington Post’s coverage of the supposed ‘collusion’ between Trump and Russia during the 2016 presidential election campaign.
In a report on Tuesday, Fox News said it had gained access to the lawsuit filed by Trump’s team in Okeechobee County, Florida that same day. According to the article, the document describes the board’s 2018 decision to award the Times and the Post as having been based on a “demonstrably false connection.”
The propagation of the “Russia Collusion Hoax” narratives in the US media led to a “tremendous misunderstanding” among a “large swath of Americans,” the plaintiffs reportedly argued.
The Pulitzer Prize Board, in turn, rewarded the two outlets for “lying to the American public,” the lawsuit claims, as quoted by Fox News.
Trump’s team reportedly pointed out that Special Counsel Robert Mueller had failed to find evidence of collusion, while a DOJ inspector general’s report had suggested malfeasance by federal investigators looking into Russiagate.
All of this, according to the complaint cited by Fox News, proved the entire story was false.
Nevertheless, the Pulitzer Prize Board stood by its previous decision, publishing a statement earlier this year in which it insisted that independent reviews of the Times’ and Post’s coverage had found that all facts presented by the outlets held true despite subsequent revelations.
The former president reportedly described this statement as having been released “with actual malice and the intention to harm President Trump and his reputation.”
Fox News reported that Trump is requesting damages from the board “in an amount to be proven at trial.”
