Judge threatens Trump with sanctions if he blows off basic order in lawsuit against 2024 election pollster

Source: Law & Crime

Jul 24th, 2025, 8:23 am


A federal judge presiding over Donald Trump's "consumer fraud" lawsuit against an Iowa newspaper and a pollster who incorrectly predicted the 2024 election results has warned the president's private lawyers to file an amended complaint by the deadline or else risk facing sanctions. U.S. District Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger on Wednesday refused to grant Trump a stay that would have pushed back a basic filing deadline another month, after he was previously granted an extension and failed to voluntarily dismiss his own case.

Trump was ordered to file his amended complaint against now-retired pollster J. Ann Selzer, the Des Moines Register, and media company Gannett on July 18, removing current and former lawmaker "co-plaintiffs" Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Bradley Zaun from the case and "eliminating claims exclusive to those Plaintiffs." Instead of filing the amended suit, however, Trump sought a stay on the day of the deadline, claiming that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit should be allowed to decide first whether jurisdictional technicalities meant the case actually was successfully dismissed.

"Again, on the final day Trump was permitted to file the previously ordered amended complaint, Trump moved for 'the Court [to] stay the requirement to file an amended complaint for 30 days following the Eighth Circuit's disposition of the motion' described above," Ebinger noted. "Defendants resist."

The judge concluded that because Trump "has not shown a strong likelihood of success or the presence of irreparable harm," he was not entitled to a stay. But she also warned him to comply with the new deadline of July 25 by 5 p.m., or else. "The Court expects compliance with all court orders. Failure to comply with orders of the Court may result in sanctions," Ebinger wrote. "The parties must comport with all rules regulating this litigation, including the Local Rules and applicable deadlines."

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/judge-threatens-trump-with-sanctions-after-he-blows-off-basic-order-in-his-lawsuit-against-2024-election-pollster/