Washington – President-elect Donald Trump is suing Ann Selzer, her polling firm, The Des Moines Register, and the newspaper’s parent company, Gannett, under the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act, accusing them of consumer fraud.
The suit was filed in Polk County, Iowa, and claims that the poll Selzer conducted showing Kamala Harris leading Trump by 3 percentage points on November 2 was a “brazen election interference” and a “doctored Harris Poll” that was intended to sway the race. Trump’s lawyers argue that the poll was a “verifiable example of election-interfering fiction” as Trump ultimately won the state by double digits.
The suit alleges that Selzer’s firm has a pattern of attempting to influence political races in favor of Democrats and that her large platform offers a significant opportunity to deceive voters. The president-elect is seeking accountability and claims that millions of Americans, including Iowans who contributed to his campaign, were “deceived” by the poll.
Media law experts have expressed skepticism about the suit’s potential success, suggesting that the real goal is to intimidate the press and journalists. The suit is the latest development in Trump’s campaign against coverage by the media and analysts that he perceives as biased.
