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* Daily Beast…
President-elect Donald Trump filed a lawsuit against Iowa pollster J. Ann Selzer and The Des Moines Register on Monday in his latest legal swipe against the media.
The suit filed in Iowa’s Polk County—which also names Gannett, the parent company of the Register, and Selzer’s polling company as defendants—claims they engaged in “brazen election interference” with a poll published on the eve of the 2024 presidential election, according to Fox News Digital.
The Nov. 2 poll surprisingly indicated that Vice President Kamala Harris had a three percentage point lead over Trump in Iowa, a state which the Republican was widely expected to win.
“Defendants and their cohorts in the Democrat Party hoped that the Harris Poll would create a false narrative of inevitability for Harris in the final week of the 2024 Presidential Election,” the lawsuit states, according to CNN. “Instead, the November 5 Election was a monumental victory for President Trump in both the Electoral College and the Popular Vote, an overwhelming mandate for his America First principles, and the consignment of the radical socialist agenda to the dustbin of history.” […]
Some media law experts were also dismissive of the filing. “I don’t expect this lawsuit to go anywhere,” wrote Rick Hasen, an election law expert at UCLA School of Law, in response to the case. Clay Calvert, a media law expert and professor at the University of Florida’s Levin College of Law, similarly said its odds of success “are slim to none,” but winning the case in court wasn’t necessarily the point.
The alleged creation of an alleged “false narrative of inevitability for Harris” allegedly involved Gov. JB Pritzker.
* From the lawsuit…
The Harris Poll, a bombshell “making nationwide news and giving Democrats what would turn out to be false hope,” was leaked by Defendants to Democrat operatives earlier in the day on November 2, many hours before the Register Article appeared. (“But roughly 45 minutes prior to the poll’s public release, a stray tweet predicted the poll’s findings. Its author said that Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a Duke University alumnus, had mentioned the not-yet-released poll during a Duke Democrats meeting that day.”). This breach resulted in Gannett, DMR’s parent company, investigating “how Pritzker and possibly other political actors could have learned of the poll early, and is reviewing employees’ emails . . . .”
* The “stray tweet” referenced above…
* Back to the lawsuit…
It is clear that the Harris Poll, unlike Defendants’ other polls, was leaked because the Harris Poll was created by Selzer and published by DMR for maximum “shock and awe” political impact rather than accuracy or reliability. It is indeed no coincidence that Defendants’ most significant polling “miss” also happened to be the one that would be leaked to cause as much harm to the electoral process as possible—and one that induced the legacy media to go “all in” and treat the Harris Poll as a “canary in the coal mine” for President Trump.
I’ve asked the Pritzker campaign for comment and I’ll update with any response.
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Dec 17, 24 @ 1:18 pm
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Won everything, can’t stop acting like sore losers.
Comment by Roadrager Tuesday, Dec 17, 24 @ 1:22 pm
I wonder how long it will take before the defendants are awarded legal fees in one of these.
Comment by OneMan Tuesday, Dec 17, 24 @ 1:22 pm
Sanctionable
Comment by DS Tuesday, Dec 17, 24 @ 1:41 pm
What are his damages if the alleged election interference was unsuccessful?
Comment by Big Dipper Tuesday, Dec 17, 24 @ 1:42 pm
Are “campaign funds” paying these lawyers?
“…hoped that the Harris Poll would create a false narrative of inevitability for Harris in the final week of the 2024 Presidential Election”
And that was supposed to lead to a national Harris victory? Or would it depress Dem turnout instead?
Probably neither.
Comment by walker Tuesday, Dec 17, 24 @ 1:51 pm
Is this an “Onion” story? Are we being “punked”?
I think we are.
Comment by JS Mill Tuesday, Dec 17, 24 @ 1:59 pm
ABC just gave them millions to finance more of these court clogging junk suits, so buckle up
Comment by Socially DIstant Watcher Tuesday, Dec 17, 24 @ 2:03 pm
I thought the money was going to his presidential library, although it’s anyone’s guess what that would contain.
Comment by Big Dipper Tuesday, Dec 17, 24 @ 2:53 pm
I thought she was toast and we were about to elect a president who obviously has a severe personality disorder. This poll gave me false hope. Where should I file my lawsuit? /s
Comment by Ducky LaMoore Tuesday, Dec 17, 24 @ 3:25 pm
Poll: Harris +3
11/5/24 Reality: Agent Orange +12
The poll must have been an outlier.
Comment by Gravitas Tuesday, Dec 17, 24 @ 4:10 pm