If Donald Trump wants to sue the Pulitzer Prize Board for giving awards to journalism critical of his ties to Russia, he will have to cough up business records to prove he was harmed.
The board filed demands for documents and information Thursday in Florida state court that would force Trump to back up his defamation allegations. He claims the board harmed him when it issued a statement standing by its awards to the New York Times and Washington Post for reporting into connections between Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia.
Trump has avoided the discovery phase in his other recent media lawsuits. Threats and initial pleadings alone were enough to land Trump a $16 million deal with CBS in July, and a $15 million agreement with ABC last December.
“Just like any other plaintiff, the President must articulate and prove his claims with evidence,” a board spokesperson said in a statement. “The Pulitzer Board will not be cowed by the President’s attempt to intimidate journalists or undermine the First Amendment.”
Taxes, Gifts, Polls
The discovery requests dig into the heart of a suit filed three years ago. But the defendants also hope to use evidence from other Trump defamation suits against him.
The complaint, filed in in deep-red Okeechobee County, makes broad accusations that the Pulitzer Board standing by stories critical of Trump harmed his business.
“Plaintiff has been damaged by the publication of the Pulitzer Statement because it is intended to leave the reader with false impression that President Trump colluded with a hostile foreign government to undermine a United States presidential election, and is further intended to stoke feelings of hatred, distrust, and discouragement in the reader toward” him, the complaint said.
The discovery demands request “all documents” that back up that assertion, and then go further. The board wants any documents Trump possessed backing up damages claims in other defamation cases he filed over a 2005 biographical book “TrumpNation,” against CBS for a “60 Minutes” episode he claims cost him “at least $10,000,000,000,” against Dow Jones for reporting on Trump’s ties to Jeffrey Epstein, and in other cases where he’s faced off against CNN and ABC.
The board is also seeking private information going back to 2015, including internal polling Trump would have conducted on himself to gauge his reputation, all of his tax returns, documents regarding all of his assets, and any gifts and compensation he’s received since then.
The fights to follow over discovery and the parameters around a potential deposition of Trump could raise constitutional issues if the president argues his special position limits his requirements to participate in his own lawsuit.
The Pulitzer Prize Board raised those concerns before Florida state appeals and supreme courts, but both courts refused to pause the litigation while Trump was in office.
Trump didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment sent to his legal team at Weber, Crabb & Wein, PA. Ballard Spahr LLP and Atherton Galardi Mullen & Reeder PLLC represent the defendants.
The case is Trump v. Members of the Pulitzer Prize Bd., Fla. Cir. Ct., No. 22-CA-000246, discovery requests filed 12/11/25.
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