Florida judge denies Pulitzer Board’s bid to stay defamation lawsuit from Trump

A Florida circuit judge on Monday denied the Pulitzer Board’s request to pause a defamation lawsuit from Donald Trump until the president is out of office.

A Florida circuit judge on Monday denied the Pulitzer Board’s request to pause a defamation lawsuit from Donald Trump until the president is out of office. The decision from the 19th Judicial Circuit Court’s Judge Robert L. Pegg late Monday presents a blow to the board, which in January pointed out that the president has sought to stay civil lawsuits in which he is a defendant. But it’s a major victory. for Trump, who is actively waging a war on news media publishers whose reporting he dislikes. Trump brought the lawsuit against the board in 2022 after it defended its decision to award the 2018 National Reporting prize to the Washington Post and the New York Times for the pair’s coverage of Russian interference in the 2016 election and its alleged connections to the Trump campaign. After Trump returned to the Oval Office in January, the Pulitzer Board argued that proceeding with the lawsuit would be constitutionally improper given it would constitute a bid to exercise “direct control” over him during his presidency, in addition to distracting from his presidential duties. Still, Pegg sided with the president, whose team argued that he is the best arbiter of what would divert him from his duties as president. “Should the duties of the President interfere with his ability to perform his obligations in this action, he is certainly entitled to seek the appropriate relief,” Pegg wrote in his decision.