US President-elect Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against the Des Moines Register and its top pollster, J. Ann Selzer, alleging “brazen election interference” and fraud over a poll published before the 2024 presidential election.
The poll, conducted by Selzer and published in the Des Moines Register on November 2, 2024, showed Vice President Kamala Harris leading Trump in Iowa by three points, despite his eventual victory by 13 percentage points.
According to Reuters, the lawsuit, filed under the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act, claims that Selzer’s poll was manipulated and leaked to influence the election outcome in favor of Harris.
Trump’s attorneys argue that Selzer’s actions were part of a broader effort to create a false narrative of inevitability for Harris and deceive voters.
The lawsuit seeks damages, an order to stop the defendants’ “deceptive and misleading acts,” and disclosure of information related to the poll. Trump’s legal action is part of his broader effort to target media companies for coverage he believes is unfair.
According to the report, Trump also said he would also consider suing social media influencers and others for defamation.
The lawsuit filed Monday night in Polk County seeks “accountability for brazen election interference committed by” the newspaper and pollster J. Ann Selzer over its poll published on November 2.
“Selzer’s polling ‘miss’ was not an astonishing coincidence—it was intentional,” the lawsuit said. “As President Trump observed: ‘She knew exactly what she was doing.'”
According to the report, the lawsuit seeks unspecified damages and an order barring the Des Moines Register from engaging in “ongoing deceptive and misleading acts and practices” related to polling.
Gannett, parent company of the Des Moines Register, is also named in the suit. A Gannett representative said the organization stands by its reporting and believes the suit is without merit.
“In my opinion, it was fraud and it was election interference,” Trump said.
“It costs a lot of money to do it, but we have to straighten out the press,” Trump also told reporters.
