Judge dismisses Trump’s lawsuit against Des Moines Register and pollster J. Ann Selzer

By Brian Stelter, Liam Reilly, CNN

(CNN) — An Iowa judge has dismissed President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against pollster J. Ann Selzer, her polling company, the Des Moines Register and Gannett.

In a written ruling on Wednesday, Judge Scott Beattie of Iowa’s Fifth Judicial District threw out the lawsuit by Trump, Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and former Iowa State Senator Brad Zaun.

The suit was dismissed with prejudice, which means Trump cannot file the same claim again. The attorneys who represented the president in the personal action did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment about whether they intend to appeal.

The ruling marks a setback in Trump’s broader legal campaign against news outlets, including ongoing lawsuits against the BBC, The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.

The lawsuit centered on a 2024 poll published days before the presidential election that showed Vice President Kamala Harris with a lead in Iowa that did not pan out in the actual election results. The suit alleged that the poll and the reporting around it aimed to artificially give Democrats an edge in the last week of the campaign.

Trump, Miller-Meeks and Zaun accused the defendants of knowingly publishing false polling information and, even if unintentional, negligently publishing false information.

Regarding the claim that the poll violated the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act, Beattie wrote that the “Iowa Poll and its reporting are fully protected political speech,” noting that plaintiffs’ lawsuit “does not allege the elements that would place that speech within the fraud exception.”

But Beattie noted that even if the First Amendment issues were set aside, the claims still didn’t meet Iowa law’s basic requirements. While Trump, Miller-Meeks, and Zaun tried to use the state’s consumer fraud statute, Beattie wrote that it applies only to consumer transactions.

Regarding the alleged fraudulent misrepresentation, Beattie writes that there was “no representation made to induce any plaintiff to act and no act taken in reliance on the truth of the polls.”

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, the nonprofit free speech group that took up Selzer’s defense, said in a statement, “We’re pleased that the court recognized what we’ve said all along: This lawsuit was laughable from the beginning and never should have been brought.”

“The First Amendment does not allow anyone in government, least of all the president, to punish people under the banner of ‘fake news.’ That may work for him as a campaign slogan, but it is not a thing in the law,” FIRE chief counsel Bob Corn-Revere said.

The First Amendment victory in Iowa came on the same day that a federal judge in Washington heard arguments in CNN, MS NOW and Politico’s lawsuit over Trump’s White House media ban. The judge in that case said he would rule soon.

Des Moines Register owner Gannett, which renamed itself USA Today Co. last year, also celebrated the victory on Wednesday.

“This decision reaffirms the enduring First Amendment principles that empower journalists and sends a message to those who think they can intimidate the press through legal action,” said Polly Grunfeld Sack, the media company’s chief legal counsel.

The-CNN-Wire
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