The Pulitzer Board is asking a court to hit the pause button on all defamation proceedings in President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against them. And guess what? They’re actually using Trump’s own legal arguments to back up their request!
Here’s the story: Trump took legal action against the Pulitzer Board after the organization awarded prestigious prizes to The New York Times and The Washington Post. These prizes were given for their coverage of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election — something Trump didn’t take too kindly to. Trump had already tried to sue these newspapers directly but didn’t get very far.
Now, the Pulitzer Board is pointing out something interesting. They’ve reminded the court that Trump himself previously argued that legal cases against him should be paused while he’s in office. Why? Because he believed the U.S. Constitution might prevent state courts from having jurisdiction over a sitting president. So, they’re using his own logic to ask the court to pause the defamation case.
For some context, Trump’s legal team previously made this same argument in a case with investors from Trump Media and Technology Group (the company behind his Truth Social platform). In that instance, Trump’s team argued that “commonsense” suggested pausing the case until after his term ended, allowing him to focus on the country’s problems.
While Trump’s federal criminal cases have been put on hold due to the Justice Department’s stance on prosecuting sitting presidents, his civil cases are still ongoing. This includes a major civil fraud judgment in favor of New York Attorney General Letitia James and defamation claims made by E. Jean Carroll related to sexual abuse.
So, while Trump’s legal battles continue to make headlines, it looks like the Pulitzer Board is turning the tables by using Trump’s own legal theories against him in this latest round of court drama.
