President Donald Trump on Monday dropped his federal lawsuit against Iowa pollster J. Ann Selzer and The Des Moines Register, according to court documents.
Instead, Trump refiled the case in state court, adding Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and former Iowa state Sen. Brad Zaun to his complaint, according to The Register, which is owned by Gannett.
Trump’s original suit alleged that a poll released days before the Nov. 5 election that showed his opponent, then-Vice President Kamala Harris, with a 3 percentage point lead in Iowa amounted to “brazen election interference” and violated the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act. The lawsuit was widely seen as one of the first signs of the more aggressive legal strategy Trump planned to take against his perceived enemies after winning the election.
Democrats were quick to jump on the results of Selzer’s poll, using it as an opportunity to highlight key Iowa congressional races. They also made the case Harris had momentum more widely, NOTUS reported.
Trump, who ultimately won Iowa 56% to 43%, filed to dismiss the case without prejudice, meaning the president’s team left open the door to refiling the case — which they promptly did at the state level.
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which is representing Selzer, told NOTUS that the dismissal filing came “after losing a bid to remand the case to state court.”
“This maneuver was not in response to any settlement and is a transparent attempt to avoid federal court review of the president’s transparently frivolous claims. The case was refiled in state court today, one day before an Iowa law intended to provide strong protections against baseless claims like these — an “anti-SLAPP” statute — goes into effect. The procedural gamesmanship is obvious and improper,” read the statement.
In a statement to NOTUS, Des Moines Register spokesperson Lark-Marie Antón said Trump “is attempting to unilaterally dismiss his lawsuit from federal court and re-file it in Iowa state court.”
“Although such a procedural maneuver is improper, and may not be permitted by the Court, it is 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,” the statement reads. “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.”
In February, lawyers for Selzer filed a motion to dismiss the case, saying the president incorrectly assumed “false news” falls outside the First Amendment, “but over 200 years of American free speech law and practice prove otherwise.” The newspaper and its parent company also sought to have the case dismissed, arguing that Trump was acting like a “sore winner.”
Earlier this month, Trump appealed an order that kept the lawsuit in federal courts. Gannett had successfully argued the case should play out in federal court given that it involved multiple parties in different states.
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Amelia Benavides-Colón is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.
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