Trump drops federal lawsuit against Iowa pollster Ann Selzer, refiles in state court
- - - Trump drops federal lawsuit against Iowa pollster Ann Selzer, refiles in state court
Zoë Richards July 1, 2025 at 7:00 AM
President Donald Trump in the Netherlands on June 24. (Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto / Getty Images)
President Donald Trump on Monday dropped his federal lawsuit against Iowa pollster Ann Selzer and The Des Moines Register over a poll that found Democratic nominee Kamala Harris leading in Iowa shortly before Election Day in November, before refiling it hours later in state court.
Trump had initially filed the lawsuit in Iowa District Court in Polk County in December. The case was later moved to federal court.
Earlier this month, a federal judge denied Trump's request to move the case back to state court.
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Bob Corn-Revere, chief counsel for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, a nonprofit civil liberties group that is representing Selzer, said in a statement that Trump's effort to dismiss the federal case after having lost his earlier attempt to remand it to state court "is a transparent attempt to avoid federal court review of the president's transparently frivolous claims."
"Whatever court ultimately reviews this matter, FIRE will defend J. Ann Selzer's First Amendment rights, and we remain confident the courts will see through this sham lawsuit," Corn-Revere said.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The refiling of the lawsuit at the state level shields it from being subject to an "Anti-SLAPP" measure that Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds signed in May and takes effect Tuesday.
So-called SLAPP lawsuits, also known as strategic lawsuits against public participation, are cases brought against news organizations in an effort to prevent public speech and reporting on an issue by engaging in expensive and extensive legal battles.
Lark-Marie Anton, a spokesperson for the Register, said in a statement that Trump's move to drop the case in U.S. district court was "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."
"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," Anton said before Trump refiled his lawsuit. "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."
The newspaper previously said Trump's federal lawsuit was "without merit" and acknowledged that the Selzer/Des Moines Register pre-election poll "did not reflect the ultimate margin of President Trump's Election Day victory in Iowa."
Trump in December sued Selzer; her polling firm, Selzer & Co.; The Des Moines Register; and the newspaper's parent company, Gannett, alleging consumer fraud over the poll, which found Harris up by 3 percentage points in the state. Trump defeated her in Iowa 55.7% to 42.5% last year.
Trump has carried the state in the past three presidential contests, beating Hillary Clinton 51.7% to 42.2% in 2016 and besting Joe Biden 53.1% to 44.9% in 2020.
Trump's lawsuit against Selzer and the Register was one of many he filed over 2024 campaign coverage.
He filed a similar suit against Paramount, the parent company of CBS News, in which he accused "60 Minutes" of selectively editing an interview segment with Harris ahead of the election.
In a filing Monday, attorneys for Trump and Paramount asked the court for a pause in the proceedings for the $20 billion lawsuit, saying the parties "are engaged in good faith, advanced, settlement negotiations."
Source: AOL Politics
