Trump makes shock move in lawsuit against Iowa pollster who wrongly predicted him losing in red state
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Donald Trump will continue to sue a pollster who wrongly predicted he would lose in Iowa in November, despite reports the case has been dropped.
The president is taking his fight against the Des Moines Register’s J. Ann Selzer from federal to state court.
A Monday court filing showed the original lawsuit appeared dropped, though Selzer’s lawyer said that there had been no settlement.
However, a White House source familiar with the lawsuit told Daily Mail Monday that the suit was simply re-filed in Iowa state court and ‘nothing was dropped’.
A spokesperson for the Des Moines Register – the paper Selzer retired from at the end of 2024 – told Daily Mail that they were still battling the state lawsuit and criticized Trump for dragging the proceedings out.
‘After losing his first attempt to send his case back to Iowa state court, and apparently recognizing that his appeal will be unsuccessful, President Trump is attempting to unilaterally dismiss his lawsuit from federal court and re-file it in Iowa state court,’ the paper’s spokeswoman Lark-Marie Anton said.
‘Although such a procedural maneuver is improper, and may not be permitted by the Court, it is clearly intended to avoid the inevitable outcome of the Des Moines Register’s motion to dismiss President Trump’s amended complaint currently pending in federal court.’
Anton notes that Trump’s move comes the day before the state of Iowa enacts a new law that ‘would provide the Des Moines Register with broad protection for news reporting on matters of public interest.’
Donald Trump will continue to sue a pollster who wrongly predicted he would lose in Iowa in November, despite reports the case has been dropped
The president is taking his fight against the Des Moines Register’s J. Ann Selzer (pictured) from federal to state court
‘The Des Moines Register will continue to resist President Trump’s litigation gamesmanship and believes that regardless of the forum it will be successful in defending its rights under the First Amendment.’
It comes the same day reports show that Trump and CBS News are coming close to a settlement in the president’s $20billion suit.
The Des Moines Register lawsuit goes after top pollster Selzer for ‘brazen election interference’ for her poll released days before the election.
Selzer’s final Des Moines Register poll showed Trump three points behind Harris and was released the Saturday before Election Day.
It sent a tidal wave through the political universe as most polling – including Daily Mail’s- showed Trump ahead or even with Harris in the swing states.
But Iowa hasn’t been considered a swing state since Trump came onto the political scene, with the Hawkeye State going for the Republican this time by a whopping 13.3 points.
The filing states: ‘Contrary to reality and defying credulity, defendants’ Harris Poll was published three days before Election Day and purported to show Harris leading President Trump in Iowa by three points; President Trump ultimately won Iowa by over thirteen points.’
‘I’m not doing this because I want to, I’m doing this because I feel l have an obligation to,’ Trump said at a press conference in mid-December.
‘I’m going to be bringing one against the people in Iowa, their newspaper, which had a very, very good pollster, who got it right all the time and then just before the election, she said I was going to lose by three of four points,’ the incoming president continued.
Trump called to ‘fully investigate’ Selzer (pictured), the Iowa pollster who predicted him losing in heavily red state Iowa just days before November’s election
‘And it became the biggest story of all time, all over the world,’ an annoyed Trump said.
‘The Harris Poll was no “miss” but rather an attempt to influence the outcome of the 2024 Presidential Election,’ the lawsuit goes on.
It accuses, ‘defendants and their cohorts in the Democrat Party hoped that the Harris Poll would create a false narrative of inevitability for Harris in the final week of the 2024 Presidential Election.’
‘Instead, the November 5 election was a monumental victory for President Trump in both the Electoral College and the Popular Vote, an overwhelming mandate for his America First principles, and the consignment of the radical socialist agenda to the dustbin of history.’
Trump said at the press conference that he was on track to win Iowa by ’20 points’ when the poll was released.
‘The farmers love me and I love the farmers,’ he said.
Prior to his general election win, Trump proved his strength in the state by easily beating rivals Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and others in the Iowa caucuses in January.
Since entering politics, Trump has had a contentious relationship with the mainstream media, but he’s turned to the legal system to litigate his claims as of late.
Lawyers for Trump and CBS parent company Paramount, ‘are engaged in good faith, advanced, settlement negotiations,’ according to court documents filed Monday that requested a pause in the proceedings.
The revelation comes days after a mediator for both sides proposed a $20million settlement, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The suit, filed last October, accuses Paramount, CBS and its flagship show 60 Minutes of deceptively editing an interview with then–Democratic presidential nominee Harris just weeks before the election.
Trump alleges the footage was manipulated to ‘tip the scales’ in Harris’s favor.
CBS has denied the claim, slamming the allegations as coming ‘completely without merit.’
In recent weeks, Paramount reportedly balked at settling the suit over fears of facing legal backlash for bowing to the president.
In December, ABC News agreed to pay $15 million to Donald Trump to settle a lawsuit over assertions made by top anchor George Stephanopoulos that he was found civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll.
The settlement, first reported by Fox News, was publicly filed on Saturday and revealed that the parties had come to an agreement in the suit.
It stipulates that the network will pay $15 million as a charitable contribution towards Trump’s presidential library.
ABC will also post a note on its website expressing regret over the claim in a March 10 segment on “This Week” made by Stephanopoulos.
They will also pay his legal fees as part of the settlement, which have totaled $1 million.
A statement from the network said: ‘ABC News and George Stephanopoulos regret statements regarding President Donald J. Trump made during an interview by George Stephanopoulos with Rep. Nancy Mace on ABC’s This Week on March 10, 2024.’
Trump had sued Stephanopoulos and the network for defamation soon after the segment aired.
His lawyers accused Stephanopoulos of making the statements with ‘malice’ and a disregard for the truth.
