Presidential election: Donald Trump sues those who made him lose in Iowa

Donald Trump has launched lawsuits against a daily and a pollster who had given him the loser in Iowa before the presidential election, a procedure which fuels fears of an open war by the Republican against the media on the eve of his second term.

This very unusual complaint was filed Monday evening in an Iowa court, and targets Ann Selzer – a former pollster specializing in this central US state, previously known for her reliability – her polling company Selzer & Co, as well as the local daily that commissioned the poll — the Des Moines Register — and its parent company Gannett.

“Invented the numbers”

The poll showed Kamala Harris ahead of Donald Trump by three points in this state, and had caused a thunderclap a few days before the presidential election finally won by the Republican, including in Iowa where his margin was ultimately more than 13 points.

The procedure seeks to “bring accountability for the blatant electoral interference” committed in favor of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, argues the complaint consulted by AFP.

Lawyers for the former and future American president accuse the pollster of having “invented the figures” and are demanding damages. Legal scholar Rick Hasen, a law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, commented on the proceedings on his Election Law blog, saying he “don’t expect it to go very far.”

“Gag”

Anna Diakun, a lawyer at Columbia University’s Knight Institute, denounced the lawsuits and urged the court to “swiftly dismiss” them.

This complaint is nothing more than “an attempt to undermine public expression and freedom of the press, and to intimidate and gag those whom Donald Trump perceives as political enemies,” she declared. in a press release from the New York institute, which defends freedom of expression.

Since his arrival on the American political scene in 2015, Donald Trump has always been extremely suspicious of the media, recently accusing them of being “bloodsuckers” and “corrupt”.

Other planned procedures

The president-elect said Monday that he planned to launch other proceedings against media outlets, including the CBS News show 60 Minutes, which he accuses of having manipulated a response from Kamala Harris in favor of the Democrat.

His statements came after the announcement on Saturday that the television channel ABC News would pay $15 million in damages to end defamation lawsuits launched by Donald Trump. Asked by AFP, Ann Selzer’s services declared that the pollster had “no comment” on the complaint against her.

Lark-Marie Anton, a spokesperson for the Des Moines Register, said in a statement that the newspaper had already acknowledged that the poll in question did not “reflect the final margin of victory for President Trump in the election in Iowa” and that the newspaper had already published in-depth data on this poll. “We maintain our work on the subject and believe that this complaint is unfounded,” she added.

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