I absolutely love this. Three years ago, Donald Trump sued the Pulitzer Board for defamation after it awarded its 2018 National Reporting prize to The Washington Post and The New York Times for their stories on Russian election interference. That case has been wending its way through the court system. Now, reports The New Republic, the Pulitzer Board has responded:

President Trump’s spiteful defamation suit against the Pulitzer Prize Board may backfire, as the latter is now demanding Trump’s psychological records, prescription medication records, and tax returns in the discovery process. […]

“To the extent You seek damages for any physical ailment or mental or emotional injury arising from Counts I-IV of Your Complaint, all Documents (whether held by You or by third parties under Your control or who could produce them at your direction) concerning Your medical and/or psychological health from January 1, 2015, to present, including any prescription medications you have been prescribed or have taken,” the board wrote in their filing. “For the avoidance of doubt, this includes all Documents Concerning Your annual physical examination. To the extent you do not seek such damages in this action, please confirm so in writing.”

This is exactly how everyone who’s targeted by Trump’s frivolous lawsuits should respond: by demanding extensive discovery of sensitive or potentially embarrassing documents. It’s a virtual certainty that Trump will now quietly drop this lawsuit before it gets too far into discovery (or push for a settlement so he can claim victory). If every Trump litigation target pursued this aggressive discovery strategy, perhaps he’d stop using these asinine lawsuits as a bullying tactic.

See also: BBC says it will defend Trump defamation lawsuit over Panorama speech edit.