Trump Threatens to Sue Pulitzer Committee for Awarding Russian Collusion Coverage

Former President Donald Trump speaks at the George R. Brown Convention Center during the National Rifle Association annual convention in Houston, Texas, on May 27, 2022. Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Former President Donald Trump sent a letter last week threatening to sue the Pulitzer Committee if they do not withdraw prizes given to journalists from The New York Times and the Washington Post.

In a May 27 letter to Pulitzer Prize administrator Marjorie Miller, Trump threatened to sue the Pulitzer Prize Board if it did not rescind the awards it gave to New York Times and Washington Post for publishing “false and fabricated” allegations that the Trump campaign and administration colluded with Russian entities.

“The continuing publication and recognition of the prizes on the Board’s website is a distortion of fact and a personal defamation that will result in the filing of litigation if the Board cannot be persuaded to do the right thing on its own,” the former president stated.

In 2018, the committee awarded the Pulitzer Prize in journalism to the staff of The Times and The Post for their reporting on alleged Russian connections to the Trump campaign and administration.

In his letter, Trump urged the Pulitzer Committee to examine newly unveiled evidence in the trial of Michael Sussmann, the former attorney for Hilary Clinton’s 2016 election campaign who was charged with lying to the FBI.

Sussmann alleged to the FBI before the 2016 U.S. presidential election that the Trump campaign colluded with Russian entities in election interference. FBI agent Scott Hellman testified during Sussmann’s trial that it took less than a day to determine that the information Sussmann provided did not support the Russian collusion allegations.

“Mr. Sussman [sic] is being prosecuted for lying to the FBI regarding false information purporting to show connections between me and Alfa Bank in Russia, as well as lying about approaching the FBI as a concerned citizen and hiding the fact that he was doing the bidding of the Clinton Campaign and Hillary Clinton herself,” Trump stated.

The former president’s letter came during the final days of Sussmann’s trial. A Washington-area jury, which reportedly included several Clinton donors and a woman whose daughter is on the same crew team as Sussmann’s daughter, unanimously found Sussmann not guilty on May 31.

In response to the jury’s ruling, Trump protested on Truth Social on Tuesday, saying that the legal system is corrupt and that “our Judges (and Justices!) are highly partisan, compromised, or just plain scared.”

“Together with the publications that have obsessively promulgated disgustingly false attacks against me, you have done all you can to destroy my reputation, how do I get my reputation back?” Trump stated in the letter.

“I again call on you to rescind the Prize you awarded based on blatantly fake, derogatory and defamatory news,” the former president said in the letter. “If you choose to not do so, we will see you in court.”

The Epoch Times has reached out to the Pulitzer Prize committee for comment.