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

Rachel Mummey/The New York Times/Redux

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.

Rachel Mummey/《纽约时报》/Redux

爱荷华州一名法官驳回了唐纳德·特朗普总统对民调专家 J·安·塞尔泽、她的民调公司、《得梅因纪事报》和甘尼特集团提起的诉讼。

周三，爱荷华州第五司法区法官斯科特·比蒂在一份书面裁决中驳回了特朗普、众议员玛丽安内特·米勒-米克斯和前爱荷华州参议员布拉德·扎恩提起的诉讼。

该诉讼被驳回，且不得再次提起，这意味着特朗普不能再次提出同样的诉讼请求。代表总统处理这起个人诉讼的律师尚未回复CNN关于他们是否打算上诉的置评请求。

该裁决标志着特朗普针对新闻媒体的更广泛法律行动遭遇挫折，其中包括针对英国广播公司 (BBC)、《纽约时报》和《华尔街日报》的持续诉讼。

这起诉讼的核心是一份在总统大选前几天发布的2024年民调，该民调显示副总统卡马拉·哈里斯在爱荷华州领先，但最终的选举结果却并非如此。诉讼指控该民调及其相关报道旨在人为地为民主党在竞选的最后一周创造优势。

特朗普、米勒-米克斯和扎恩指控被告明知故犯地发布虚假民调信息，即使并非故意，也因疏忽而发布虚假信息。

关于民意调查违反爱荷华州消费者欺诈法的说法，比蒂写道，“爱荷华州民意调查及其报道是完全受保护的政治言论”，并指出原告的诉讼“没有指控任何要素，使该言论符合欺诈例外情况”。

但比蒂指出，即便撇开第一修正案的问题不谈，这些诉讼请求仍然不符合爱荷华州法律的基本要求。虽然特朗普、米勒-米克斯和扎恩试图援引该州的消费者欺诈法，但比蒂写道，该法仅适用于消费者交易。

关于所谓的欺诈性虚假陈述，比蒂写道：“没有任何陈述诱使任何原告采取行动，也没有任何行动是基于民意调查的真实性而采取的。”

为塞尔泽辩护的非营利性言论自由组织“个人权利与表达基金会”在一份声明中表示：“我们很高兴法院认可了我们一直以来的说法：这场诉讼从一开始就很荒谬，根本就不应该提起。”

“第一修正案不允许政府中的任何人，尤其是总统，以‘假新闻’为名惩罚民众。这或许可以作为他的竞选口号，但这在法律上是行不通的，”FIRE首席法律顾问鲍勃·科恩-里维尔说道。

爱荷华州第一修正案的胜利与华盛顿一位联邦法官审理CNN、MS NOW和Politico就特朗普白宫媒体禁令提起的诉讼的同一天发生。该法官表示将很快作出裁决。

《得梅因纪事报》的所有者甘尼特公司（去年更名为今日美国公司）也在周三庆祝了这一胜利。

“这项决定重申了赋予记者权力的持久的第一修正案原则，并向那些认为可以通过法律诉讼恐吓媒体的人发出了警告，”该媒体公司首席法律顾问波莉·格伦菲尔德·萨克说。