Trump threatens lawsuit if Pulitzer board doesn't strip awards from NY Times, Washington Post

Lawyers representing former President Donald Trump issued a letter Tuesday threatening to sue the Pulitzer Prize board if they don't "immediately rescind" the 2018 awards given to both The Washington Post and The New York Times for their coverage of the now-discredited Russia collusion case.

According to a letter reviewed by Just the News, Trump's lawyers are threatening legal action due to The New York Times and Washington Post's stories concerning the debunked theory of Trump's ties to Russia.

"​​It is hereby demanded that the Pulitzer Prize Board take immediate steps to strip the New York Times and The Washington Post of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. Pulitzer Prize Board's failure to do so will result in prompt legal action being taken against it," attorney Alina Habba wrote on behalf of Trump. The letter was sent out by Trump's Save America political action committee.

The letter goes into detail how two of the main sources linked to the two publications reporting, specifically Michael Sussmann and Igor Danchenko, are now facing criminal charges for lying to federal authorities.

Sussmann is accused of failing to disclose to the FBI that he was representing Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign when he presented alleged evidence about unusual communications between the Trump campaign and Russia-based Alfa Bank. 

Danchenko, on the other hand, helped contribute to the discredited Steele dossier and has been charged with five counts of lying to the FBI. 

According to the Daily Mail, as a result of the indictments, the Washington Post corrected two stories that contained references to the Steele dossier, which Trump's lawyers noted in their letter to the board.

"It is hereby demanded that the Pulitzer Prize Board take immediate steps to strip the New York Times and The Washington Post of the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. Pulitzer Prize Board's failure to do so will result in prompt legal action being taken against it," the lawyer's letter reads. 

The letter goes on to state that if the board doesn't hold these two publications accountable, it could irreparably tarnish the reputation of the Pulitzer Prize.