President Donald Trump declared victory in his lawsuit against the Pulitzer Prize Board after a Florida appellate court denied its motion Wednesday to pause proceedings until after the president is out of office.
"In a major WIN in our powerful lawsuit against the Pulitzer Prize Board regarding the illegal and defamatory 'Award' of their once highly respected 'Prize,' to fake, malicious stories on the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax, by the Failing New York Times and the Washington Compost, the Florida Appellate Court viciously rejected the Defendants' corrupt attempt to halt the case," Trump posted on his Truth Social page Wednesday night.
Trump sued the Pulitzer board in 2022, arguing that the board's statements supporting reporting from The Washington Post and The New York Times concerning claims of Russian collusion during his first administration were "malicious" and "false," considering special counsel Robert Mueller's probe finding no evidence of collusion.
The newspapers won the 2018 award for National Reporting, which Trump demands should be rescinded.
Earlier in the day, Florida's Fourth District Court of Appeals rejected the board's argument to delay the lawsuit on claims that it would raise "constitutional concerns" for any court to exercise "direct control" over Trump during his presidency, reports Law and Crime.
The Pulitzer board claimed that allowing the case to move forward would be a violation of due process, considering that Trump has previously used presidential privilege to pause lawsuits filed against him.
The appellate court, in its ruling, determined that the Pulitzer board was asking for relief for Trump that he was not seeking for himself, and said the situations were not comparable with Trump being the plaintiff, not the defendant in the case.
"They won a Pulitzer Prize for totally incorrect reporting about the Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax," Trump wrote after the decision was reached. "Now they admit it was a SCAM, never happened, and their reporting was totally wrong, in fact, the exact opposite of the TRUTH. They'll have to give back their "Award." They were awarded for false reporting, and we can't let that happen in the United States of America. We are holding the Fake News Media responsible for their LIES to the American People, so we can, together, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.