If Donald Trump is determined to continue his lawsuit against the members of the Pulitzer Prize Board, the defendants are insisting that his legal team provide a “complete” version of former special counsel Robert Mueller’s report. This move aims to scrutinize Trump’s accusations that a “defamatory” statement by the board, which supported journalism awards for Russia investigation reporting, damaged his reputation.

Last Friday, in Okeechobee County, Florida, where Trump has also scheduled several depositions of board members in the upcoming weeks, the defendants officially requested an “unredacted and full copy of the Mueller Report” along with “all documents and communications” shared between Trump and Mueller’s team.

Trump initially filed the lawsuit in 2022, aiming to hold the Pulitzer board members accountable for their statement, which supported awards given to The New York Times and The Washington Post. The statement followed independent reviews of their 2017 coverage, which dismissed Trump’s demands to revoke the prizes.

Trump contended that the Pulitzer Prize is the “peak of American journalistic excellence,” and that the board’s statement harmed his “reputation, profession, and business.” He claimed it wrongly suggested “criminal, wrongful, and un-American conduct” by endorsing, in his terms, the “Russia Collusion Hoax” reporting.

While Mueller’s investigation did not conclude a grand conspiracy between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia, the report did reveal “numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump campaign.” The board members now seek Trump’s documents and communications related to this and other findings from Mueller’s report.

The Mueller report stated, “Although the investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked towards that goal, and that the Campaign anticipated electoral benefits from information stolen and released through Russian efforts, the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”

Trump argued that because the Pulitzer Prize is the “pinnacle of American journalistic achievement,” the award “carries very important connotations,” and the board member statement “damaged” his “reputation, profession, and business,” “wrongfully impl[ying] criminal, wrongful, and un-American conduct” on his part by giving authoritative credence to, in his words, “Russia Collusion Hoax” reporting.

Mueller’s investigation did not ultimately allege a grand conspiracy between the 45th and 47th president’s 2016 campaign and Russia, but the special counsel’s report did highlight “numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump campaign,” and the board members seek Trump’s documents and communications about this Mueller conclusion among others.

“Although the investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome, and that the Campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts, the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities,” the Mueller report said.

The latest discovery demands from the defendants — reminiscent of litigation that several years ago pressed a federal judge to evaluate whether the DOJ during Trump’s first term improperly redacted the Mueller report and “distorted” its findings to steer a narrative — come at a time when the current Trump administration has supported burying and relegating to the “dustbin of history” ex-special counsel Jack Smith’s volume on the Mar-a-Lago classified documents investigation.

The board members stated their document and communications request “includes but is not limited to […] any negotiation” with Mueller regarding Trump’s records production or his “answers to written questions,” Russia’s 2016 hack of the DNC and the ensuing WikiLeaks dump, information on the Trump Tower Moscow project, Donald Trump Jr.’s 2016 Trump Tower meeting, and more.

“For the avoidance of doubt, this also includes all Documents and Communications Concerning denials of Your involvement in writing and/or editing Donald Trump Jr.’s statement,” the filing said.

At the end of the filing, where the defendants look to shed light on “any member” of Trump’s transition team or administration and their “connection” to Russia or “Russian elements,” the defendants mentioned slain Hollywood director Rob Reiner, whom Trump disparaged as a “deranged person as far as Trump is concerned” following the Reiner family slayings in December.

“All Documents and Communications supporting or otherwise forming the basis for your assertion on Dec. 15, 2025, that Rob Reiner was ‘one of the people behind’ the ‘Russia Hoax,’” the filings said, piling onto prior discovery demands for Trump’s tax returns, sources of income, liabilities, health records and any prescription medication history.

The defendants include: Andrew W. Mellon Foundation president Elizabeth Alexander, The Atlantic’s Anne Applebaum, longtime Boston Globe editor Nancy Barnes, former Columbia University president Lee C. Bollinger, author and journalist Katherine Boo, Poynter Institute president Neil Brown, former USA Today Editor-in-Chief Nicole Carroll, former Columbia Journalism School dean Steve Coll, New York Times opinion columnist Gail Collins, Vice President and Editor at Large for Standards at the Associated Press John Daniszewski, Editor and Vice President at the Philadelphia Inquirer Gabriel Escobar, UCLA historian and professor Kelly Lytle Hernandez, longtime Pulitzer Prize Deputy Administrator Edward Kliment, New York Times columnist Carlos Lozada, former Los Angeles Times Executive Editor Kevin Merida, Pulitzer Prize Administrator Marjorie Miller, USC professor Viet Thahn Nguyen, CEO and co-founder of The 19th Emily Ramshaw, New Yorker editor David Remnick, and Harvard University philosophy professor Tommie Shelby.

Court records show Trump has tabbed Remnick, Barnes, Kliment, Miller, and Ramshaw for depositions in the weeks ahead.