Iowa (RI) — A nonprofit group will represent Ann Selzer and her polling company free of charge against a lawsuit brought by President-elect Donald Trump. The suit, filed last month, alleges Selzer’s Iowa Poll in the Des Moines Register — which showed Trump trailing in Iowa by three points — was a form of election interference. Adam Steinbaugh is an attorney for the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, the group representing Selzer.
Trump won Iowa by 13 points and Trump’s lawsuit alleges Selzer and the Des Moines Register created a false narrative about the race with the poll, released the weekend before the election, showing Trump trailing Kamala Harris in Iowa. The lawsuit accuses the paper and the pollster of violating Iowa’s Consumer Fraud Act.
A Chicago-based group has filed a second, similar lawsuit against The Register and pollster Ann Selzer that accuses them of misleading subscribers. In a written statement, the Register’s legal counsel called it a frivolous, copy-cat lawsuit meant to suppress speech protected by the First Amendment.
