President Donald Trump speaks to the press outside the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, April 13, 2026, in Washington (AP Photo/Alex Brandon).
Pulitzer Prize board members have asked a Florida judge to either force Donald Trump to respond to their discovery demands or to shut down his Russia probe lawsuit until after his second term ends, frustrated that the president has "yet to produce a single written response or document."
Attorneys for the defendants said Monday that Trump's lawyers, led in this case by R. Quincy Bird, expressed an interest in an "extraordinary 150-day extension" in January so the president, given his "current official duties," could respond "in one fell swoop."
Trump had previously insisted on moving forward with the case while in office, arguing that point all the way up to Florida's Supreme Court in summer 2025, with some help along the way. And yet, the defendants now say, the plaintiff hasn't handed over any documents relating to his tax returns, psychological records, or former special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election.
"Despite these extraordinary extensions for his discovery responses, Plaintiff has yet to produce a single written response or document. Defendants, on the other hand, have engaged in robust discovery. Over the last year, Defendants have reviewed more than 71,000 records and produced more than 124,000 pages of documents. In addition, six Defendants have sat for merits depositions, two more will be deposed in the next three weeks, and additional Defendants will soon be scheduled to sit for depositions by the end of September," the filing said.
Trump has had time to file new lawsuits, make discovery demands of his own, and depose various board member defendants, but he uses his office to shield him from discovery when convenient, the defendants continued.
"In other words, Plaintiff's position is that the Constitution does not permit this Court to rule against him," the filing argued to Senior 19th Judicial Circuit Judge Robert Pegg. "Defendants respectfully submit that Plaintiff's position, that he is above the law even as he opts to pursue affirmative claims in his personal capacity, cannot be correct."
In a final volley, the board members asked the judge to either pause this case until Trump is out of office or to order him to respond to discovery requests by July 1 — that is, in two weeks.
"Plaintiff has chosen to file a civil suit in this Court, and in doing so he has committed to satisfying the obligations imposed on every other litigant appearing before this Court. If he cannot live up to those responsibilities while also faithfully executing the Office of President of the United States, then the case must be stayed until Plaintiff's term in office has concluded," the defendants said.
Trump first filed the lawsuit in 2022, after the board released a statement rebuffing his demands to rescind 2018 prizes for the New York Times and the Washington Post.
The board's allegedly defamatory statement cited "two independent reviews" of the Times' and Post's reporting to conclude that the prizes "stand," as "no" aspects of the award-winning articles on Mueller's Russia probe were "discredited."
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