Trump urges Iowa judge to keep 2024 political poll lawsuit alive

Source: Courthouse News Service

July 10, 2026


DES MOINES, Iowa (CN) — President Donald Trump fought Friday to keep alive his lawsuit against the Des Moines Register and pollster J. Ann Selzer over a poll published days before the 2024 election that showed former Vice President Kamala Harris narrowly leading in Iowa. Lawyers for Trump, who claims the pool was fraudulently manipulated to damage his campaign, returned to Iowa state court urging Polk County District Judge Scott Beattie to reject the Register’s motion to dismiss.

The Register and Selzer argue the case fails under the First Amendment’s protection of the press reporting political news. Trump contends the poll created by Selzer and published by the Register constitutes commercial speech governed by Iowa’s consumer fraud law and is not protected by the First Amendment.

“This is a frivolous case,” Robert Corn-Revere, chief counsel for The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which is representing Selzer, told the court at Friday’s hearing. “It does not belong in this court or in any court.”

“This case is novel — the president of the United States filing suit against the largest newspaper in the state,” said Nicholas Klinefeldt of Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath in Des Moines, who represents the Des Moines Register and its parent Gannett Co. “But what is not novel is politicians attempting to intimidate the media.”

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