Donald Trump wants Pulitzers that were given to The Washington Post or The New York Times to be taken away.
In 2018, the Pulitzers were given to media outlets for reporting on Russian interference in the 2016 elections.
Trump claims that there was false reporting about a link between Trump Campaign and Kremlin.
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Donald Trump, former President, is asking for the Pulitzer Prize to be rescinded for reporters at The New York Times (New York) and The Washington Post who reported on Russian interference in the 2016 elections.
Trump released a statement on October 3 asking for the Pulitzer Price Board to cancel the 2018 prizes. He claimed that the awards were based on "false reporting of a nonexistent link between Trump Campaign and the Kremlin."
The award was presented to The Post and The Times journalists for their articles published between February 8, 2017 and September 7, 2017. The Pulitzer Prize committee praised the journalists for their "deeply-sourced, relentlessly covered coverage in the public interest that dramatically advanced the nation's understanding about Russian interference in 2016 presidential elections."
Trump claims that Trump's headlines were sensationalized and relied heavily on unverified anonymous sources. Trump also asked for the reports to be withdrawn as they were based on articles concerning the "now-debunked Russian conspiracy theory of collusion."
Trump wrote that "numerous conservative news outlets and commentators doubted the legitimacy of these stories," adding that there were "clear and logical fallacies in them."
The former president wrote that "it has been since confirmed that the allegations are false and I have been exonerated from these charges."
Trump was not exonerated. Robert Mueller, the special counsel, was the one who led the investigation into the allegations of collusion in the 2016 election. He did not recommend that prosecutors charge Trump or not. Mueller said that Mueller would have stated so if he was certain that Trump had not committed a crime.
Trump's new demands to the Pulitzer committee seem to be based on the recent indictment against Michael Sussmann. Sussmann is a cybersecurity lawyer who was previously employed under the Clinton campaign. John Durham, Special Counsel, has accused Sussmann in lying to the FBI about his employer when he informed the bureau about possible covert communications between Trump's organization and Russia’s Alfa Bank.
According to The New York Times Sussmann has pleaded guilty. His lawyers accuse Durham, a Trump-era appointee of seeking to punish their client for political reasons.
Insider requested comment from The Times and The Post but they did not respond immediately.
