The Pulitzer Prize board honored New York Times and Washington Post reporters with a cash prize and its once-esteemed award in 2018 for peddling the thoroughly debunked Trump-Russia collusion narrative, which proved politically expedient for the liberal reporters’ ideological comrades in Washington at the time.
In light of the damning Durham report, critics now reckon the awards to be albatrosses around the necks of those who dutifully worked to mislead the nation — put there by an organization apparently indifferent to the storm gathered as a consequence.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has joined those now urging that the Pulitzer Prize awarded to the staff at both papers be “taken back.”
Graham told Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” Tuesday that “we have a situation where the FBI ran every stop sign available, kept pushing a warrant against an American citizen based on a Steele dossier that was a piece of fiction. The information was supplied the FBI by two Russian agents. It was used to get a warrant against an American citizen to turn his life upside down and create a cloud of the Trump presidency and try to deny him the presidency.”
With the full understanding provided in the Durham report that the investigation was from the get-go a stitch-up predicated upon a false claim, originally approved and advanced by failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Graham stressed that three things should happen:
First, Attorney General Merrick Garland “should pick up the phone and call all those that were harmed by this and say, ‘Even though it didn’t happen on my watch, I’ll apologize to you. This is not the Department of Justice that I want you to believe in,'” said Graham.
Second, FBI Director Christopher Wray should “get on the phone and apologize to the people that had their lives ruined by the FBI.”
Third, “the Pulitzer Prize given to the Washington Post and New York Times should be taken back because the entire episode was politically motivated crap. That’s not something you should get a Pulitzer Prize for,” added Graham.
Graham doubled down on this third suggestion Wednesday, tweeting, “Awarding the Washington Post and New York Times Pulitzer Prizes for reporting political fiction as fact regarding President Trump shows that these prizes are awarded not based on the product of your work, but the subject you go after. They should rescind the prize.”
The awards in question went to the staffs of the New York Times and the Washington Post for what the Pulitzer Prize Board characterized as “deeply sourced, relentlessly reported coverage in the public interest that dramatically furthered the nation’s understanding of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and its connections to the Trump campaign, the President-elect’s transition team and his eventual administration.”
The Daily Mail reported that the Jeff Bezos-owned Washington Post remains unrepentant.
“The Post stands by its reporting,” said Jennifer Lee, a spokeswoman for the paper, citing a 2022 review by the Pulitzer board that claimed no aspect of the awarded stories “were discredited by facts that emerged subsequent to the conferral of the prizes.”
This statement appears to indicate that false reports may be deserving of awards, just so long as the truth comes out after the receipt of the prize.
While the Washington Post evidently stands by past false narratives, the New York Times appears keen to downplay newly revealed truths.
In its Monday story on the Durham report, the Times claimed, “Mr. Durham’s 306-page report revealed little substantial new information about the inquiry,” suggesting that Durham’s hunt “for evidence to support Mr. Barr’s theory that intelligence abuses lurked in the origins of the Russia inquiry” had proven fruitless.
It added, “The special counsel’s final report nevertheless did not produce blockbuster revelations of politically motivated misconduct, as Donald J. Trump and his allies had suggested it would.”
TheBlaze reported in 2019 that then-President Trump said the Pulitzer committee should revoke a joint Pulitzer Prize from both newspapers “for their coverage (100% NEGATIVE and FAKE!) of Collusion with Russia.”
\u201cSo funny that The New York Times & The Washington Post got a Pulitzer Prize for their coverage (100% NEGATIVE and FAKE!) of Collusion with Russia – And there was No Collusion! So, they were either duped or corrupt? In any event, their prizes should be taken away by the Committee!\u201d— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump)
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In response to Trump’s suggestion, the New York Times wrote in a March 29, 2019, tweet, “We’re proud of our Pulitzer-prize winning reporting on Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. Every @nytimes article cited has proven accurate.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) took to Twitter Monday to comment on the Durham report, writing, “Disgraceful. Obama-Biden officials and the corrupt corporate media pushed these piles of lies for years. Accountability now— starting with WaPo and The New York Times returning their Pulitzer Prizes for breathlessly spreading these ‘Russia, Russia, Russia’ lies.”
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) posed the question, “Ready to give your Pulitzer back now?”
\u201cReady to give your Pulitzer back now?\u201d— Congressman Byron Donalds (@Congressman Byron Donalds)
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Sean Spicer, who served as press secretary and White House communications director under President Donald Trump, quipped, “How will the Washington Post send back its Pulitzer? USP, FedEx, UPS.”
Former Georgia state Rep. Vernon Jones (R) wrote, “For three years the liberal media portrayed the now-infamous Steele dossier — the original basis for the Trump- Russian collusion claims — as true, and the New York Times and Washington Post received Pulitzer Prizes for a story that not only has been debunked but shown to be the product of Hillary’s Clinton’s presidential campaign.”
The Georgia Republican suggested that it’s time for the papers to issue apologies.
Graham Reacts to the Durham Report
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